Kitchener Takes Advantage of Sarnia’s Slow Start, Beating the Sting 4-1

By Carl Chimenti

The Sarnia Sting (13-27-5-1) could not overcome a slow start and they lost to the Kitchener Rangers (31-11-3-1) 4-1 on Tuesday night, at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

Trailing 2-0 with a little more than six minutes to play in regulation, Sarnia finally got on the board to slice the Rangers’ lead in half. Sting rookie forward Myles Dunn, playing in his first OHL game, did good work along the half boards and managed to send the puck to rookie teammate Kalib Capecci at the point. Capecci’s shot was blocked, with the puck coming to Alessandro Di Iorio, and he turned and put the puck past goaltender Jason Schaubel for his 11th goal at 12:26. For Capecci and Dunn, it was both their first career assist and point.

Kitchener came right back to score an insurance goal from Christian Humphreys (Colorado Avalanche) at 14:11 to pretty much seal the Sting’s fate. Humphreys had a two-point night and was the first star. Kitchener’s Cameron Arquette scored into an empty net, and the Rangers ran their current winning streak to eight games.

Sarnia goaltender Kale Osipenko was truly amazing in the game, as he kept his team in the mix with timely saves, and he earned the second star for his brilliant performance with 31 saves on 34 shots. Kitchener overall out-shot Sarnia 35-12. Rangers forward Sam O’Reilly was the third star with a goal and two assists. Jack Pridham (Chicago Blackhawks) chipped in with a pair of helpers.

The Rangers went 2/6 on the power play and the Sting failed to score in their two chances with the man advantage. Sarnia was better in the face-off circle 29-26.

It was not a good first period for the Sting as Kitchener completely dominated, scoring twice while out-shooting Sarnia 15-1. The only shot came early at 2:11 off the stick of Brenner Lammens. The lone bright spot for Sarnia was the goaltending of Osipenko, who did all he could with some nice stops, including stoning the Rangers twice during their first power-play opportunity.

Matthew Hlacar scored the first goal, even strength, at 7:16 from Weston Cameron and Pridham. The scoring play went under review due to a possible kicking motion, and after a lengthy delay the goal was allowed to count. Kitchener increased their lead on a power-play goal from O’Reilly at 12:14, from Humphreys and Cameron Reid (Nashville Predators).

Not much happened in the second period until the final three minutes when Pickell took exception to a shot in the back from Kitchener goaltender Jason Schaubel and then all heck broke loose, with numerous players from both sides getting into a brawl with pushing, shoving and a few punches. After it was sorted out, the Rangers went on the power play.

Both teams were limited on shots, with Kitchener registering only 10 shots to Sarnia’s 4 in a scoreless middle frame. Osipenko continued his solid game, stopping all ten shots.