By: DAVE BORODY
OSHAWA – During the recent
four-game winning streak by
the Sarnia Sting, the second
period of those games have
been extremely kind to the
Sting.
They scored three times in the second stanza in the win over
Peterborough, found the back
of the net for six goals
against Windsor in period
two and also scored the
game-winner against
Mississauga in the middle
frame.
But that was not the case Friday night in Oshawa against the
Generals.
The hometown team knocked in three second period goals on their way
to a 6-4 victory over the
Sting in front of 3,563 fans
at the General Motors Place.
The loss snapped Sarnia’s four-game winning streak and leaves them
with an overall record of
4-4-1-0 in the Ontario
Hockey League.
Oshawa improved to 7-1-1-0
as they lead the Eastern
Conference in points. They
are also perfect on home ice
at 5-0-0-0.
The opening period was scoreless with the Sting holding a 10-6 edge
in shots on goal. There
weren’t a lot of good
scoring chances by either
side.
But it was complete reversal in the second stanza when Oshawa
peppered Sting goalie Justin
Fazio with 19 shots. Sarnia
could muster just five shots
on goal. The Sting did not
get a shot on goal until the
13-minute mark of the
period.
The score could have easily been higher after period two except for
the fact Fazio stopped two
breakaways and the rookie
also made several other
excellent saves.
With the injury to overage goalie Taylor Dupuis, Fazio has played
in all nine games, a total
of 543 minutes, the most of
any goalie so far in the OHL.
Oshawa finished with 38-25
edge in shots on goal.
Hunter Smith got the ball rolling for the Generals just 59 seconds
into period two when he
banged home a goalmouth
pass. Sarnia had just
finished killing off a
penalty.
Aiden Wallace gave Oshawa a 2-0 lead 13:09 when he took advantage
of a Sting giveaway to beat
Fazio from a sharp angle.
Oshawa scored a power play
goal just over a minute
later to take a commanding
3-0 lead when Mitchell
VandeSompel scored on a
screen shot from the point.
The Sting had one quality chance late in the period when Vladislav
Kodola was sent in on a
breakaway, but was stopped
by Generals goalie Kenny
Appleby.
Sarnia did solve Appleby at
1:45 of period three on the
power play when Anthony
DeAngelo sent home a low
wrist shot from the point.
Pavel Zacha and Davis Brown
drew assists on DeAngelo’s
first goal of the season.
But the Generals came right back with a power play goal of their
own at seven minutes to go
ahead 4-1 as Josh Sterk took
a convenient bounce off the
backboards to have an open
corner to deposit the puck.
After Jacob Bush scored Oshawa’s fifth goal at 10:42, Pavel Zacha
notched Sarnia’s second
goal, 16 seconds later
scoring on a rebound. Nikita
Korostelev assisted on
Zacha’s second of the year.
Goals continued to come fast and furious as Bradley Latour scored
on a shorthanded breakaway
for the Generals while
Hayden Hodgson scored on a
breakaway for Sarnia on the
power play.
Sarnia’s fourth goal came at
18:48 when Korostelev scored
his sixth of the year with
Brown and Troy Lajeunesse
gaining assists.
The Sting will conclude their three game road trip Sunday afternoon
when they travel to
Belleville to battle the
Bulls. Game time is 4:05
p.m.
Sarnia returns home next weekend for a pair of
games as they host
Belleville Friday night and
the Ottawa 67s Saturday
night. Both games begin at
7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre.
It will be the one and only
appearance for both teams in
Sarnia this season.
Tickets for all Sting home games are on sale daily at the RBC Box
Office, by calling
519-541-1717 or going online
at
www.sarniasting.com
-
The Sting went with the same lineup as the one in Peterborough
Thursday night.
-
Korostelev’s two points gives him 10 points in four games. He leads
the team in scoring with
six goals and seven
assists for 13 points.
-
Sarnia finished two-for-six on the power play and Oshawa
two-for-five.
-
Zacha was named third star of the game as he had a goal and an
assist.
-
The backup goalie for Oshawa is Jeremy Brodeur, son of future NHL
Hall of Famer, Martin
Brodeur. He was an
eighth round draft pick
of the Generals in 2013.
-
Sarnia is 2-3-1-0 away from home.
-
Former Sting Justice Dundas is playing for Saint John Seadogs of
the Quebec Major Junior
League after spending a
year and a half in
Oshawa.
