Sarnia Battles Back, Ultimately Fall Short, Losing To Sudbury 7-3
By Carl Chimenti
The Sudbury Wolves scored four times in the second period and held on to defeat the Sarnia Sting 7-3 in front of a snowy Friday night crowd of 4,361 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
The Sting scored two late goals in the middle frame to make it close, but a third period goal from the Wolves put an end to the come-back bid. Kai Schwindt (Florida Panthers) had his best game since joining the Sting from the Mississauga Steelheads in November, scoring two goals and was selected as the third star tonight. It was the first two goal game from a Sting player since December and only the fifth time this season. Carter Kostuch scored his first goal and overall third this season since joining the Sting from the North Bay Battalion. Marko Sikic and Zach Filak had a pair of assists each while Tyson Doucette and Lukas Fischer added one helper each.
Sudbury’s Zacharie Giroux scored two goals and an assist in just his second game since coming over in a dead-line trade deal from the Flint Firebirds. Giroux was voted as the first star. Nathan Villeneuve had a goal and two assists for the Wolves and was the second star. Alex Pharand (Chicago Black Hawks) notched a pair of goals for Sudbury as they out-shot Sarnia 37-27. Chase Coughlan had a goal and an assist and David Goyette (Seattle Kraken) also scored for the Wolves. Kocha Delic and Nick Yearwood, each contributed two assists.
Karsen Chartier started in net against his home-town team and stopped 11 of 17 shots before being relieved by Nick Surzycia in the second period. Surzycia had 19 saves on 20 shots. Sudbury’s Jacob Vondras (Carolina Hurricanes) turned away 24 of 27 shots.
On the power-play Sudbury went 1/3 and Sarnia was 0/5. The first period featured lots of pushing and shoving. Sarnia opened the scoring early at 1:53 as Schwindt scored on a rebound shot, his fifth of the year, with Filak and Sikic assisting on the scoring play. From there the Wolves scored twice to take a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes of play. Villeneuve tied the game at 7:37 with Kieron Walton and Evan Konyen drawing the assist. Sudbury went in front for the first time at 14:27 on a goal from Goyette his 22nd. Giroux and Delic assisted on the play.
There was eight minor penalties called, totaling 16 minutes. The second period produced six goals with Sudbury scoring the first four goals and Sarnia coming back with a pair of their own late. Giroux scored shorthanded at 1:18 and added a second goal on the power-play at 9:31. Sandwiched in between was an even strength goal from Coughlan at 4:36 and Alex Pharand scored at 12:05. The Sting battled back as Wainwright came close, hitting a goal post and moments after Schwindt scored his second of the game at 14:54 on a rebound shot of his own, finishing off a three way passing play that included both Sikic and Filak. Two minutes later Kostuch scored at 16:54 from Doucette and Fischer. Both teams had 12 shots on goal.
