OHL Sarnia Sting

Sting Lose Tough Decision to Otters

Published on March 29, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


By DAVE BORODY

Take away three minutes early in the second period and the Sarnia Sting could have, and probably should have beaten the Erie Otters Sunday night.

But unfortunately the Otters scored four goals during that span and they went on to nip the Sting 6-5 in front of 4,522 boisterous fans at the RBC Centre.

The win gives Erie a 2-1 lead in the best of seven Ontario Hockey League first round playoff series.

Game four goes Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. (Tickets are still available).

The sell out crowd certainly got their monies worth and then some as there was an electric atmosphere in the building the entire game.

The Sting jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. They lead 2-1 after 20 minutes before the Otters scored those four quick goals to start period two. Erie held a 5-3 advantage after 40 minutes.

But the Sting showed their character and tied the game at 5-5 early in period three only to have Connor McDavid score what turned out to be the winning goal at 9:23.

Sting head coach, Trevor Letowski was naturally disappointed with the outcome, but says the series is far from over.

"It's a seven-game series. We've shown improvement each game and there is a strong belief in that room that we can play with this team. Not many people would have said that before the series started."

"In the three games we've gone toe-to-toe with them. It was an exciting game tonight and the atmosphere was the best I've seen in my five years here. We got down 5-2 and battled back to tie the game at 5-5. To lose is heart-breaking."

He added, "We played hard and we played well. On the winning goal we actually won the face-off in our end, but somehow the puck squirts out to 97."

Jake Marchment led the Otters attack with three goals while Dylan Strome had a pair and McDavid one.

For the Sting, Troy Lajeunesse, Hayden Hodgson, Pavel Zacha, Alex Renaud and Stephen Pierog scored the goals. Anthony Salinitri, Jeff King, Jordan Kyrou and Nikita Korostelev all chipped in with two assists each.

Each team had a power play goal while Erie had a shorthanded goal during that four-goal stretch in the second period.

"They got a power play goal during that stretch and that kind of took the flow of the game away from us," said Letowski. "We get a power play and they ended up scoring a shorthanded goal. That hurt."

Letowski says he likes the way his team has played so far.

"Five-on-five we have played well. Our detail has been good. We just have to keep grinding and going after them. I thought we had them on their heels in the third period. We outchanced them 10-4 in the third period. Too bad a couple of bounces didn't go our way."

The Sting easily could have been ahead 4-1 after 20 minutes as they hit a post and a crossbar. Sarnia pulled their goalie with just over a minute and half remaining and did have some chances, the best being a shot in the slot from Korostelev that went wide.

Erie finished with a 37-27 edge in shots on goal. Devin Williams was the winning goaltender despite looking shaky the entire game. Taylor Dupuis went the distance in goal for the Sting. Despite allowing six goals, Dupuis made a number of splendid saves.

The attendance was the largest for a playoff game in 10 years.

Marchant gained first star honours while Kyrou took second star and Strome third star.

Ti ckets for game four are on sale daily at the RBC Centre Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com

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

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 29, 2015


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