Sports stats

OHL Sarnia Sting

Sting Fall to Rangers in OT

January 15, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


By DAVE BORODY

The Sarnia Sting almost pulled off another Thursday night miracle finish at the RBC Centre.

The Sting rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the final minute, only to lose 3-2 in overtime to the Kitchener Rangers in front of 2,685 fans.

Last Thursday the Sting came from a three-goal effort scoring twice in the final minute to edge the Erie Otters 4-3.

This time it wasn't meant to be as Kitchener's Frank Hora scored at 1:38 of overtime. He snuck in from the point, cut in front of the goal and slipped the puck past Sting netminder Taylor Dupuis.

The loss was Sarnia's third in overtime this season in the Ontario Hockey League, dropping their overall record to 21-15-3-2.

With the point gained for the overtime loss the Sting are now just two points back of Guelph for fourth place in the Western Conference with each team having played 41 games.

Sting head coach Trevor Letowski wasn't happy his team lost in overtime, but called the team's performance a gritty effort.

"I like the way that Kitchener team plays. They made some moves at the deadline, but they still have good team speed and come right after you. We knew it would be a dogfight. I thought our team got better as the game went on."

He continued, "There weren't a ton of scoring chances by both teams. We did rally and just came out a little short in overtime. But it is a valuable point for our team."

Letowski was forced to juggle his lines throughout the game as he had only 10 forwards dressed.

"We lost Brandon Lindberg just before the game due to sickness. He's been a very dependable player for us all season and we use him in a lot of situations. So that left us with just 10 forwards and we had to juggle things around. I liked the way Pavel Zacha took over in the third period and really stepped up for us."

The first period went scoreless, thanks mainly due to the goaltending of Dupuis. He made several solid stops, including stopping a breakaway in the final minute. The Rangers outshot the Sting 13-8 in the period.

Kitchener scored the game's opening goal at 16:02 of period two. Darby Llewellyn finished off a three-on-two break scoring on a wrist drive from the slot.

The Rangers increased their lead to 2-0 at 1:56 of period three when Brandon Robinson scored on a rebound. The puck went off his skate, but after video review, it was determined he did not making a kicking motion so the goal was allowed to stand.

Sarnia finally got on the board just 25 seconds later when Zacha raced around a Rangers defenceman and whipped a low backhand past goalie Jake Paterson.

The Sting pulled their goalie with a minute and a half remaining. They tied the game with 56,3 seconds left as Zacha's attempted centering pass went off a Rangers player and into the net.

Each team had just only shot each in overtime, but the Rangers made their shot count for the winning goal.

Kitchener held a 29-27 edge in shots on goal. Each team had just one power play.

The Sting welcomed back two defencemen in Connor Schlichting and Josh Chapman. Schlichting missed 20 games and had not played since Nov. 15th while Chapman was out for 11 games. Chapman was involved in a second period fight where he pounded his opponent.

Both players were sidelined with concussions.

The Sting will be home again Friday night when the Plymouth Whalers come to town. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

Special opening ceremonies will take place to help kick-off the annual Atom and Midget North American Silver Stick Hockey Tournament being held in Sarnia this weekend.

Tickets for that game and all remaining home games for the Sting are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com

STING NOTES

- Hora was the game's first star with Zacha second star and Llewellyn third star. Zacha now has 11 goals on the season.

- Picking up assists for the Sting were Jakob Chychrun, Daniel Nikandrov, Jordan Kyrou and Stephen Pierog. Chychrun has five goals and six assists in nine games since returning from injury.

- Not dressed were Jeff King, Lindberg, Matt Ciccarelli, Patrick White and Nikita Korostelev.

- Korostelev's shoulder injury will mean he will not take part in next Thursday's Canadian Hockey League Prospects Game in St. Catharines.

- The loss snapped Sarnia's three-game winning streak. Their home record is 12-6-1-2.

Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.

Check out the Sarnia Sting Statistics



Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 15, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Sarnia Sting Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central