Sarnia Scores Four Unanswered Goals To Beat Peterborough 4-2
By Carl Chimenti
The Sarnia Sting (19-12-4-2) spotted the Peterborough Petes (21-14-1-2) the first two goals and then came storming back with four unanswered goals, three in the third period, to key a come from behind 4-2-win, Thursday night at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
The victory extended the Sting winning streak to three in a row as they get ready for a Friday evening tilt in Kingston against the Frontenacs.
Marko Sikic tied the game in the third at 10:30 with his seventh goal of the season on the power-play to extend his point streak to four Games (3-4-7). Sarnia went two for two with the man-advantage.
Nolan Burke (Nashville Predators) followed that up with what proved to be the game winner at 14:34 from Ethan Ritchie and Ty Voit (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Cooper Way sealed the win with an empty net goal at 19:17, his fifth of the season.
Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) and Luca DelBelBelluz (Columbus Blue Jackets) had two assists each.
Christian Kyrou (Dallas Stars) scored the first Sting goal to spark the comeback. Kyrou has points in seven of his last eight games (3-7-10). Vilmanis also has points in seven of his last eight games (4-7-11).
Ethan Ritchie had an assist on the game winner and Marcus Limpar-Lantz set up the Way empty netter with a pass following a 2 on 1 break.
Ben Gaudreau (San Jose Sharks) came back strong in his first game with the Sting after helping Team Canada win Gold at the World Juniors, stopping all but two of the 28 shots directed at him tonight. Overall Sarnia out-shot Peterborough 30-28.
The first period was uneventful as both teams failed to score. Sarnia was the better team keeping Peterborough bottled up in their own end for most of the second half of the period. The Sting out-shot the Petes 13-8. Peterborough had the only power-play chance but Gaudreau, stopped the only shot on goal during the penalty kill. Gaudreau made his best save of the period with less then six minutes to play stopping a 2-on-1 odd man rush to keep the game scoreless.
Tucker Robertson (Seattle Kraken) broke the scoreless tie at 7:53 in the second period extending his point streak to nine games. J.R. Avon (Philadelphia Flyers) and Connor Lockhart (Vancouver Canucks) assisted on the goal. The Petes increased their lead by a pair less than three minutes later as Jonathan Melee scored. Chase Stillman (New Jersey Devils) and Chase Lefebvre set up the goal at 10:38. The Sting sliced the lead to 2-1 on the Kyrou goal as he let go a blast from the point that beat goaltender Michael Simpson top shelf. The power-play goal came at 17:28 with the assists going to Vilmanis and DelBelBelluz, who posted his second assist in as many games since coming over in a trade last week.
The three stars – Peterborough – J.R Avon (3rd), Sarnia – Christian Kyrou (2nd) and first star Nolan Burke of the Sting.
