Three Unanswered Goals in the Third Period Help Sarnia Defeat The Soo 5-2
By Carl Chimenti
The Sarnia Sting (22-14-4-2) scored three goals in the final seven minutes and went on to beat the Soo Greyhounds (14-18-7-5) Friday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie.
Ty Voit (Toronto Maple Leafs) scored at 13:27 with what proved to be the game winner and Cooper Way added two more, one on an empty net goal to seal the victory.
Ethan Del Mastro (Chicago Black Hawks) had three assists which included helpers on the winning goal and the insurance goal scored by Way. Del Mastro has seven assists in his last three games. It was Way’s first two goal game of the season.
Nolan Burke (Nashville Predators) was selected as the first star with a goal (28th) and two assists and has points in seven of his past eight games (6-6-12). Voit’s game winner was his 12th of the year and he was voted as the second star. The leading scorer in the OHL, Voit, had a two-point night and also has points in seven of his last eight games (4-6-10) and leads Matthew Maggio of the Windsor Spitfires by two points 66-64 in the scoring race.
Goaltender Ben Gaudreau (San Jose Sharks) was simply outstanding tonight as he kept the Greyhounds frustrated with four highlight reel saves, two in the first and two more in the third when the game was still tied. In all he stopped 30 of 32 shots to steal a win for the Sting. Overall Sarnia out-shot the Soo 37-32.
The Soo Greyhounds dominated the first period on the shot clock and in the face-off circle, but the Sting led in the most important stat on the scoreboard, scoring twice to lead 2-0 after the first twenty minutes of play.
A combination of three good passes in the Soo zone led to the first Sting goal. Ethan Ritchie sent a pass to Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) and he in turn got the puck to Easton Wainwright who scored his sixth of the year at 7:23 on Sarnia’s first shot on goal. Burke made it 2-0 with his 28th of the season, as he lit the lamp from inside the face-off circle after being set up by Del Mastro and Voit at 12:35. Gaudreau made a couple of spectacular saves on a pair of Greyhound break-aways to keep the Soo off the scoreboard.
The Greyhounds tied the game after two periods with two goals. A short-handed goal from Caeden Carlisle at 8:56 sliced the lead in half with Bryce McConnell-Barker and Kirill Kudryavtsev drawing the assists. Justin Cloutier tied the game with only four seconds remaining in the middle stanza. The goal came at 19:56 from Mark Duarte and Matthew Virgilio (third star). Sarnia out-shot the Soo 17-10.
SWARM WARNING: Three Sting players celebrated a milestone in tonight’s game as forwards Sasha Pastujov (Anaheim Ducks) and Zack Filak, along with goaltender Gaudreau played in their 100th career OHL game.
SWARM WARNING: Tyson Doucette returned to play in his home town of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and was rewarded by Head Coach Alan Letang to the starting line-up. Doucette’s dad Dave played with the Soo Greyhounds during the 1989-90 OHL season.
