Three Third Period Goals Help Hounds Defeat The Sarnia Sting 3-1
By Carl Chimenti
The Soo Greyhounds scored three times in the final period to overcome a one goal deficit and then held on the rest of the way to beat the Sarnia Sting 3-1, Wednesday night, at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Sarnia led 1-0, near the mid-way point of the third period, but the Sting were assessed back-to-back minor penalties that gave the Greyhounds a two man-advantage.
The Soo proceeded to score on both ends of the power-play, with the two goals coming 52 seconds apart. Bryce McConnel-Barker (New York Rangers) tied the game at 8:25 and Marco Mignosa scored what turned out to be the winning goal at 9:17. Andrew Gibson (Detroit Red Wings) added an insurance goal at 10:04, to wrap up the scoring for the Greyhounds. Cooper Way scored the lone goal for Sarnia in the first period, his 11th of the year and Tyson Doucette had the only assist. Nick Surzycia, did all he could in net, giving the Sting a chance to win, as he stopped 38 of 41 shots and should have been selected with a star.
The Soo, claimed a sweep of the three star selection, with the third star going to Mignosa. The second star was McConnell-Barker and the first star went to Brady Martin. The Greyhounds out-shot the Sting 41-18, as Soo goaltender Landon Miller came up with 17 saves. The Soo went 2/3 and Sarnia scored once in two tries on the power-play.
Sarnia will now return home to play their final home game, at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena, Friday night against the Saginaw Spirit, with puck drop at 7:05pm. The first period was a scoreless defensive battle, with the Soo out-shooting Sarnia 12-6. Surzycia had a number of good saves for the Sting.
Mitch Young, had the best scoring chance for Sarnia, as he broke in on a partial break-away, only to be stopped with a stick save from goaltender Miller. The opening period was also penalty free. Despite being out-shot by a wide margin 13-6, in the second period, the Sting managed to score the lone goal, to lead 1-0, after forty minutes. The goal came at 4:53 and was scored on the power-play. Doucette charged the net with the puck and he was taken down, but he managed to put the puck on net and Miller made the initial save, with the puck deflecting to Way and he put the puck behind Miller. Surzycia was outstanding once again, as he stopped the Soo’s best chance on an odd man rush from Martin. Later in the period, Surzycia had some puck luck, as Jack Beck (Calgary Flames) shot wide, with a gapping open net.