By DAVE
BORODY
Playing
with a depleted lineup, the Sarnia Sting dropped a 5-2
decision to the London Knights, Thursday night in front
of 3,454 fans at the RBC Centre.
The
loss leaves the Sting with a 15-13-1-1 record in the
Ontario Hockey League.
The
Sting played without eight roster players. They had two
call-ups from junior B and still were one player under
the limit of 20.
Sting
head coach Trevor Letowski refused to use the absence of
several key players as an excuse.
“We
talked as a group before the game and said that we
needed everyone going hard tonight. That wasn’t the
case. We did some wrong things, like taking
undisciplined penalties. I truly believe we can beat
that team.”
Not
dressed for the Sting was goalie Taylor Dupuis, Josh
Chapman, Jakob Chychrun, Vladislav Kodola, Hayden
Hodgson, Pavel Zacha, Matt Ciccarelli and Connor
Schlichting.
“Even
with those guys missing, the game was there to be had
and we came up short,” said Letowski. “They scored two
power play goals in the first period as a result of a
couple of undisciplined penalties and we seemed to be
chasing the game after that. Five-on-five play was
pretty even.”
He
added, “We were in the game at 3-2 going into the third
period. We gave up the fourth goal early in the third
and that was a big one. We couldn’t get that big goal
like they did. We just didn’t quite have enough.”
It was
the first of six meetings between the two arch-rivals
this season.
Christian Dvorak led London with two goals and two
assists and was named the game’s first star. Owen
MacDonald, Michael McCarron and Mitchell Marner chipped
in with singles. Matt Rupert added three assists.
Stephen
Pierog with his sixth of the year and Jordan Kyrou with
his fourth scored the Sarnia goals. Anthony DeAngelo and
Daniel Nikandrov added assists.
London
led 2-0 after one period and 3-2 after the second. The
Knights put the game out of reach with goals at 3:43 and
5:05 of period three.
Michael
Giugovaz was the winning goalie, making 26 saves while
Sting rookie netminder Justin Fazio faced 28 shots and
gave up 5 goals.
London was two-for-five on the power play while Sarnia was
one-for-five.
The
Sting return Friday night when they travel to Kitchener
to battle the Rangers for the first time this season.
The game will be shown on Sportsnet.
“Our
game plan will be similar to this one. We need to
execute. Our special teams need to be better and our
discipline also needs to be better. We simply need a
good team effort. It should be exciting with the game on
national television,” said Letowski.
The
coach said Dupuis could play against Kitchener, but the
other injured players will not.
The
Sting will be back home Saturday night when they take on
the Peterborough Petes beginning at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC
Centre.
Tickets
for all remaining Sting home games are on sale daily at
the RBC Centre Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or
going online at
www.Sarniasting.com
-
Dvorak was first star with Marner second star and
Kyrou third star.
-
Call ups for the Sting included defencman Jake
O’Donnell from the Sarnia Legionnaires and Chase
Campbell of the Waterloo junior B team. Both are
signed draft picks of the team.
-
London was missing Max Domi, who is attempting to
crack the Team Canada roster for the world junior
tournament.
-
The
Sault Ste. Marie player who slammed Chapman into the
boards last Sunday received a 10-game suspension.
-
Sarnia’s home record is 8-5-0-1.
