Sarnia Sting Lose in Close 4-3 Battle Against the Soo
Written by Carl Chimenti
Jordan Charron (Pittsburgh Penguins) goal with 26 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Soo Greyhounds (4-1) a 4-3 win in front of a large opening night crowd of 3,833 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
The goal came at 4:34 after the Sting (3-1-1) were forced to kill two minor penalties, including a five-on-three for twenty seconds. Both teams scored once in the third period to send the game into the extra session.
Colin Fitzgerald, the game’s first star, scored his second of the game at 4:08. Sarnia scored less than two minutes later at 5:49 on a goal from Alessandro Di Iorio (Columbus Blue Jackets) to tie the game. Di Iorio was named as the third star. Brenner Lammens netted his fourth of the season and was selected as the second star.
Sting goaltender Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko (Utah Mammoth) was sensational in the game as he did all he could, stopping 30 of 34 to keep the Sting in it. Both teams had 34 shots on goal. The two teams failed to score with the man advantage, the Soo going 0/5 and Sarnia 0/1. For the Greyhounds, goaltender Landon Miller (Detroit Red Wings) turned aside 31 of 34.
Sting forward Chase Gaughan scored his first goal of the year. Logan Hawery, Parker Holmes (Chicago Blackhawks), Tyler Challenger and Dracen Campbell chipped in with one assist each.
The Soo got off to a good start and tested goaltender Tkach-Tkachenko. Travis Hayes (Pittsburgh Penguins) broke in alone, but Tkach-Tkachenko was up to the task, making a blocker save. The Soo went on the power play shortly after, but the Sting PK unit was strong, allowing only a couple of shots against. Sarnia put their first shot on goal just before the five-minute mark.
The Greyhounds opened the scoring at 12:55 on a goal from Fitzgerald, with Jeremy Martin and Jakub Winkelhofer assisting. The Sting came right back to tie the game at 16:35. Lammens received a short pass from Hawery and skated to the front of the net and beat Soo goaltender Miller.
Sarnia took the lead in spectacular fashion, scoring the go-ahead goal with just 3.1 seconds remaining. Gaughan scored his first of the season, officially at 19:56, from a nice set-up by Holmes, who was credited with the primary helper. The second assist was awarded to Challenger. Sarnia out-shot the Soo 14-11.
The Greyhounds scored the only goal of the second period at the ten-minute mark from Hayes, with assists going to Lukas Moore and Quinn McKenzie (New Jersey Devils). Tkach-Tkachenko made two incredible saves, stopping Charron twice, including a dazzling glove save with just 1:14 left on the clock. Both teams registered 10 shots on goal in the middle stanza.
