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Sarnia, ON -
The Lambton Shores Predators have won all three
games at the Sarnia Arena this season, winning
Thursday night 3-1 over the Sarnia Legionnaires,
while improving their chances at making a run for
the playoffs.
"We played
three really good periods," said Predators Coach
Mark Davis. "From the goaltender out, our defence
played solid, everyone put effort into it. It wasn't
a one man show."
The
Predators are six points out of a playoff spot, with
the Chatham Maroons ahead of them. While the two
teams have similar numbers in the wins column,
Chatham has four more overtime losses, earning the
extra point to put them in front. The Predators do
have a game in hand on the Maroons, and could close
the gap to as little as four points with eight games
remaining.
Cale
Duberry had a pair of goals for the Predators in the
first period, first scoring on a pass from Nick Erb
behind the net to beat Kyle Washer, and his second
would come on the power play, as again Duberry would
get in front and put a loose puck into the back of
the net, as the Predators lead 2-0 after the first.
Corey
Pawley would add a second period goal, keeping on a
two-on-one play and sliding a shot low on Washer for
a 3-0 Lambton Shores lead.
The
Legionnaires would get one back in the middle of the
third, as Jason Teschke would find Jesse Drydak
across ice for a tap in goal on their own
two-on-one, but that would be all the scoring they
could get past Brandon Campbell who made 31 saves
for his 10th win of the season.
"One thing
about this team is they just don't give up," said
Davis. "Our last probably six games, we played well
we just couldn't score."
The loss
to Lambton Shores is the third Thursday night home
loss in a row for the Legionnaires who are 2-2-1 at
home through the month of January. Sarnia still
remains in first place, and coach Dan Rose is not
worried yet in the direction the team is heading in
at a critical time in the season.
 "I'm
not worried, but we need to play better," said Rose.
"We obviously shown we are capable of it but for
whatever reason the last two weeks we are in a funk
and played pretty flat."
Sarnia is
still missing a few players, but the competitive
edge is something Rose felt was lacking in the 3-1
loss. And coming in against a team battling for a
playoff spot, Rose says the team needs to come out
and compete every single shift if they want to
continue winning hockey games.
"They
pushed and we didn't respond," said Rose. "The shots
we got we good shots, but we were not competing to
get to the front of the net. The nature of the game
is you have to compete hard, you can't stand around,
and we stood around. Give them credit they are still
battling."
Tanner
Ferguson returned to the Predators Thursday night,
having been out of the line up since December 22nd
after a hit to the head left him in need of
reconstructive surgery to repair the damage.
Lambton
Shores will take on London on Sunday to finish out
January, while the Legionnaires will head to
Strathroy on Saturday night.
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@sarniasports.
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