Shootout needed in Sarnia
By DAVE BORODY
The Sarnia Sting let one slip away Saturday night.
The Sting dropped a 4-3 decision to the Peterborough Petes in a shootout in front of 2,775 fans at the RBC Centre.
Sarnia does gain a valuable point in the standings and leaves them with a 16-13-1-2 record in the Ontario Hockey League.
After a scoreless opening period, the Sting enjoyed a 2-0 lead in the second period. Peterborough scored before the second frame ended and then tied the game early in period three.
Sarnia regained their one-goal margin only to see the Petes force overtime scoring with just over two minutes to go in regulation time.
A scoreless overtime provided a 10-player shootout. Sarnia scored twice while Peterborough popped in three goals, with Anthony Stefano scoring the deciding goal.
Sting assistant coach Andy Delmore says it’s frustrating giving away the lead twice.
“It is on one hand, but we’ve done a pretty good job over the last month of protecting leads in the third period. We did let one slip away tonight.”
Delmore said the effort was there despite being short eight players.
“With us being shorthanded like we were and them missing a couple of top players, it was a choppy game. There wasn’t much flow to the game. Both teams weren’t sharp on the power play. The game could have gone either way.”
The Sting opened the scoring 50 seconds into period two when Anthony DeAngelo raced down the right side and fired a quick shot off the goal post. Nikita Korostelev and Alexander Renaud drew assists.
Korostelev provided the Sting with a 2-0 margin at 11:50 when he skated over the blue line and sent home a quick wrist shot to the top corner of the net. Troy Lajeunesse notched the lone assist on Korostelev’s 16th goal of the year.
Peterborough cut the lead in half at 16:11 when Stefano knocked in a loose puck while Josh MacDonald tied the game two and half minutes into period three.
Sarnia regained the lead at 13:43 when DeAngelo got his second of the game and 10th of the season finishing off a goalmouth pass from Stephen Pierog. Zachary Core also assisted.
But the Petes would not go away and tied the game at 17:53 when Michael Clarke tipped in a goalmouth pass.
In the shootout, DeAngelo and Pierog scored for the Sting, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Sarnia held a 31-28 edge in shots on goal with Dylan Wells the winning goalie while Taylor Dupuis took the loss.
Sarnia had only two power plays and Peterborough just one.
The Sting finished off a busy portion of their schedule taking three of six points on the weekend.
“We have to be pleased with three points,” said Delmore. “We had the big win in Kitchener as we stole that one. So overall it wasn’t too bad.”
He added, “I think we are 100 percent better than we were a month ago. We’ve gained some strides. But Saginaw won tonight so it becomes a big game with them next Friday.”
After playing 13 games in the past 24 days, the Sting now get a bit of break as they will play just three games in the next two and a half weeks, all on home ice.
Their lone game next week is Friday when they host the Saginaw Spirit. After a Christmas break, they host Plymouth on Sunday, Dec. 28 at 4:05 p.m. and London on Dec. 31st. (The London game may be changed to a 1 p.m. start).
Tickets for all remaining home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
– DeAngelo was first star with MacDonald second star and Korostelev third star. DeAngelo now leaves to join Team USA for the upcoming world juniors. He is one of 10 defencemen on the USA roster vying for seven spots.
– Forward Davis Brown is the latest casualty for the Sting as he was injured in Friday’s game and did not play against Peterborough. Other players not dressed were Josh Chapman, Jakob Chychrun, Vladislav Kodola, Hayden Hodgson, Pavel Zacha, Matt Ciccarelli and Connor Schlichting.
– The Sting dressed only 10 forwards and was two under the limit of 20. Forward Ryan Vendramin was up from the Sarnia Legionnaires.
– Sarnia is 8-5-0-2 on home ice.
Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.
