OHL Sarnia Sting

Whalers Down Sting 6-3

Published on February 26, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Sarnia Sting News Release


By DAVE BORODY

PLYMOUTH, Mich. - The Sarnia Sting just can't seem to buy a win these days.

Despite a solid road game the Sting dropped a 6-3 decision to the Plymouth Whalers, Thursday night in front of only 1,241 fans at the Compuware Sports Arena.

The loss was Sarnia's fifth straight in the Ontario Hockey League.

Sarnia was hoping to make their last-ever appearance at the Compuware Sports Arena a memorable one, but it wasn't meant to be.

(The Whalers are moving to Flint next season. Sarnia has been coming to the Compuware Sports Arena since 1996).

Sarnia held a 42-35 edge in shots on goal. "We started off fairly well. I looked up late in the first period and we were outscoring them two to one. But at the end of the day it's another disappointing loss", said Sting assistant coach Andy Delmore.

Delmore added, "there weren't alot of positives. Some guys played well and others didn't. You don't win many games giving up six goals. We need to tighten up."

The first period proved to a wide-open affair. Sarnia outshot the Whalers 18-11, but the teams split four goals.

Plymouth opened the scoring at 5:25 when Victor Crus Rydberg finished off a two-on-one break on the Whalers first shot.

But the Sting responded with a pair of goals. Jakob Chychrun tied the game at 11:49 with Sarnia holding a two-man advantage. Pavel Zacha and Jordan Kyrou assisted on Chychrun's 14th goal of the season.

Nikita Korostelev put Sanria ahead at 16:04 with his team-high 20th goal of the year. He knocked in a rebound after a nice rush by Zacha, who drew the lone assist.

The Whalers tied the game at 18:03 when Mitch Jones scored on a backhand from close range.

A power play goal by Matthew Campagna at 6:02 of period two put the Whalers up 3-2. They went ahead 4-2 at 17:16 on a shorthanded goal by Connor Sills into an open net after Sting goalie Justin Fazio got caught wandering out of the net. This goal turned out to be the game winner.

The Sting get that one back before the period ended as Hayden Hodgson scored his 19th of the year at 18:29 with Chychrun drawing the lone assist.

Plymouth took their first two-goal lead at 8:37 of period three with their second power play goal as Sonny Milano scored from close range.

The Sting lost forward Pavel Zacha at 10:37 when he was tagged with a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct.

The Whalers put the game out of reach at 14:10 with the teams five aside as Milano scored on a breakaway.

Alex Nedeljkovic was the winning goalie while Fazio took the loss.

Sarnia and Plymouth will meet for the sixth and final time this season Friday night at the RBC Centre. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The Sting then concludes their weekend Sunday afternoon in Windsor against the Spitfires.

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

STING NOTES

- Sarnia finished one-for-six on the power play and Plymouth two-for-seven.

- Not dressed for the Sting were Patrick White, Joshua Chapman and Connor Schlichting. Chapman was serving the final game of a 12-game suspension and is eligible to play Friday night.

- Davis Brown returned to the Sting lineup after missing seven games.

- The game was 15 minutes late starting due to a busted pain of glass behind the Sting goal. It happened in the warm-up.

- Sarnia has nine games remaining in the regular schedule.

- The road record for Sarnia falls to 10-17-2-1.

- After winning the first three games against Plymouth this season, the Sting has dropped the last two.

- All three stars were from Plymouth with Milano named first star. He had two goals and two assists.

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 February 26, 2015


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