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Dupuis Stole the Show in Sting Win

friday december 12, 2014


By DAVE BORODY


KITCHENER – You’ve heard that old saying in hockey that a goalie can steal a game for his team.

Taylor Dupuis did exactly that for the Sarnia Sting Friday night.

The overage goalie was brilliant in leading the Sting to a 4-1 victory over the Kitchener Rangers in front of 6,955 fans at the Kitchener Auditorium.

Dupuis turned aside 38 of 39 shots he faced and was easily the game’s first star.

His splendid performance should come as no surprise to Sting fans as Dupuis has now won nine straight games between the pipes.

“Yeah, that was one of my better games,” said a smiling Dupuis in the dressing room after the game. “That’s a first for me playing on national television. It makes a good feeling feel even better.”

Dupuis was humble about his effort.

“My team-mates deserve credit as well. Most of the shots I was able to see and they were able to clear out most of the rebounds. That really helps me.”

As for the game, Dupuis said, “Obviously it was a good result. We got back on our heels in the second period, but we shut them down in the third period and showed them what we can do.”

Sting defenceman Anthony DeAngelo called Dupuis the best goalie in the league right now.

 file photo

“If it wasn’t for him who knows what the score would have been. He’s got everybody’s back with an effort like that. He gives the rest of the team confidence.”

Sting head coach Trevor Letowski also had high praise for Dupuis.

“He was obviously the difference. He kept us in the game in the second period when we were on our heels. They pushed us hard. But I liked the way we performed in the third period and closed it out. We played real smart and managed the puck well.”

Letowski added, “When you come into this building, it’s always a tough game. But Dupuis keeping us ahead after two periods was huge. They probably should have been ahead and if they were, it would have made it real tough on us in the third. But Dupuis held the fort and was the difference in the game.”

Sarnia again played with 19 players and was missing several key regulars.

The Sting scored the only goal of period one at 4:15 when Patrick White deflected home a point shot from Kevin Spinozzi. Stephen Pierog also assisted on White’s eighth goal of the season.

Sarnia killed off a pair of Kitchener power plays. On the second one, the Rangers did not get a shot on goal.

Troy Lajeunesse put the Sting up 2-0 at 3:40 of period two on a wraparound. It was his eighth goal of the year. Spinozzi and Jeff King drew assists.

But it was all Kitchener after that. For the next few minutes the Rangers had several excellent scoring chances, but were turned away by Dupuis. He made several point blank stops.

The Rangers finally solved Dupuis at 14:19 on their 24th shot as Gustaf Franzen knocked in a pass out.

Kitchener enjoyed a two-man advantage for 57 seconds midway through the third period. Sarnia allowed just two shots, but Dupuis had to make a great pad save on a goalmouth pass on one of them.

Seconds later Dupuis made another excellent save from close range.

The Sting made it 3-1 at 11:47 when Nikita Korostelev took a pass out from Alex Renaud and ripped home a wrist drive from the slot for his team-high 15th goal of the season.

Sarnia then put the game on ice at 17:25 on a power play when Daniel Nikandrov snapped home a quick shot from the slot. Anthony DeAngelo and White gain assists on Nikandrov’s ninth goal of the year.

Letowski was also pleased with the fact his team killed off all five Kitchener power plays.

“Kitchener has a pretty good power play and we didn’t give them much. It proved to be a huge difference and a big part of the game.”

Sarnia fired 23 shots at losing goalie Dawson Carty.

The win improved Sarnia’s overall record 16-13-1-1. They are just one win away from equalling their total number of wins for all of last season.

The Sting completes their fourth consecutive weekend of three games in three days when they host the Peterborough Petes Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. It is the one and only visit to Sarnia by the Petes this season.

Tickets for Saturday’s game and all remaining home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at www.sarniasting.com .

  • Dupuis was first star with Kitchener’s Nick Magyar second star and White third star.

  • Not dressed for the Sting were Joshua Chapman, Jakob Chychrun, Vladislav Kodola, Hayden Hodgson, Pavel Zacha, Matt Ciccarelli and Connor Schlichting.

  • Forward Davis Brown of the Sting left the game in the second period and did not return. That left the team with 10 forwards.

  • Sarnia improved to 8-8-1-0 on the road while Kitchener lost for only the third time in 15 home games.

  • The Sting was one-for-two on the power play and Kitchener zero-for-five.

  • Sarnia and Kitchener play three more times this season.

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