Former Sting Goaltender Karsen Chartier Stops 34 Shots As Sudbury Beats Sarnia 3-1
Former Sting Goaltender Karsen Chartier Stops 34 Shots As Sudbury Beats Sarnia 3-1
By Carl Chimenti
Karsen Chartier came back to haunt his former team as he stopped all but one of the 35 shots to backstop the Sudbury Wolves (9-18-1-0) to a 3-1 win over the Sarnia Sting (7-16-3-1), Friday night at the Sudbury Community Arena. Chartier was especially sharp in the third period, stopping all 11 shots he faced, including a game saving stop on Lukas Fischer (St. Louis Blues) while sprawled on the ice with his left pad in the final 90 seconds. For his effort Chartier was named as the first star. The game entered the third period tied but Kieron Walton (Winnipeg Jets) scored a high-lite goal, as he danced to the front of the Sting net after making three moves and then deposited the puck into the back of the net at 6:47, with what proved to be the winning goal. Walton had a two point night and was the second star. Rowan Henderson scored an empty net goal for the Wolves at 19:29 to ice the win. Beckham Edwards was the third star for Sarnia with the lone goal (11th) in the second period from Mitch Young and Easton Walos. The Sting had a five on three man-advantage for 31 seconds with eight minutes remaining in regulation, and had a couple of good scoring chances, but Chartier held his ground with a couple of big saves. Another strong effort from Sarnia goaltender Patrick Quinlan as he stopped 21 of 23, but he got no run support despite the fact that the Sting played a better game, out-shooting the Wolves in each period and overall 35-24. On the power-play Sarnia went 0/3 and Sudbury scored once in two chances.
The first period was slow moving and penalty free, with Sarnia coming on in the second half. The game was scoreless through the first twenty minutes with Sarnia out-shooting the Wolves 12-6. Brown had the best scoring chance in the final two minutes as he stole the puck away from Gavin Ewles, and he was able to move in front with a shot that was stopped by Chartier, who made a nice save with his right pad. Walos also had a good scoring chance following a terrible turnover by Sudbury from behind the net that came out to the slot. Walos was all alone but Chartier was up to the task making a terrific save. The Wolves hit one goal post early on. Quinlan was not very busy but kept the Wolves off the scoreboard. The second stanza saw both teams score once. Sarnia out-shot Sudbury for a second consecutive period 12-9. The Sting got on the scoreboard early at 1:16. Edwards let go a shot that Chartier was forced to make a save. Edwards showed no quit as he charged to the net and scored on the rebound from Young and Walos. Sarnia’s defensive work looked strong, but a minor penalty put Sudbury on the power-play. Nathan Villeneuve (Seattle Kraken) was parked to Quinlan’s left and Walton sent a pass to him off the face-off and he one timed the puck into the net at 9:43. Near the end of the period Ryan Brown apparently scored on a tap in, but the play was ruled no goal because of an early whistle, after the referee had lost sight of the puck.
