Rookie forward Zack McQueen says when something works, you stick with it.

MacQueen’s patented backhand, top shelf goal in the shootout gave the Sarnia Sting a gutsy 3-2 win over the Plymouth Whalers, Thursday night before 3,231 fans at the RBC Centre.
 

MacQueen was the only player of six to score in the shootout. Sting netminder Adam Courchaine stopped all three Whalers shooters.
 

It marked the third game in a row Sarnia has gone to a shootout. They have won two of the three and three of four overall so far this year.
 

“I’m not going to change that shot anytime soon,” said MacQueen, who calmly skated in on Whalers goalie Matt Hackett, faked to his forehand, went to the backhand and lifted the puck into the top of the net.
 

“We battled hard tonight. We probably took too many penalties, but our penalty killing was very good. We had to be patient and it’s nice to get the two points.”
 

Defenceman Joe Rogalski scored the other two Sting goals, both in the second period. His first goal sent 2,459 stuffed bears onto the ice.
 

“This is the first time in my career I’ve scored two goals in one game and it feels pretty good,” said Rogalski, who was named the game’s first star.
 

“Plymouth is a big team and they like to forecheck hard. They are always sending two guys in on the forecheck.”

After a scoreless first period, Rogalski opened the scoring at 7:46 of period two. He described the goal.

“I was a little rattled because I had taken a penalty. When I came out of the box, there was a pass through center ice. The puck just seemed to come to me off one of their defencemen. I had some room to skate in on the right side and put it upstairs.”
 

He added, “When I saw it go in the first thought that came to my mind was that I probably will never do that again.”

His second goal came a minute later when a wrist shot from the right point changed directions and went past Hackett.

“I actually saw the second one go in although it changed directions a couple of times before it went into the net.”

The Whalers fought back in the third period with a pair of power play goals. The first came at 1:24 when Tyler Seguin scored on a low wrist shot between the legs of Courchaine while Michal Jordan tied the game at 16:45 when he picked the top corner on the glove side from the high slot.
 

The Sting started the game playing one under the limit of 20 and then lost two more players during the game.

Miroslav Preisinger took a shot off his right hand on a penalty kill in the second period and did not return. Early in the third period Brett Ritchie was handed a questionable five-minute major for boarding and automatic game misconduct.
 

“I couldn’t really see it,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen, when asked about the major penalty to Ritchie. “The part I saw I thought it was shoulder on shoulder. I’ll have to look at the tape. But both referees were adamant the Plymouth player was away from the boards and the major was justified.”
 

The league will review the penalty to see if a suspension is warranted.
 

Remarkably the Sting did not allow a shot on goal during the five-minute power play.
 

Plymouth finished two-for-nine on the power play while Sarnia was zero-for-nine.

“A big key tonight was our penalty killing,” said coach MacQueen. “I thought we did a great job, especially on that five-minute major, even though both their goals came on the power play.”
 

MacQueen and his assistant coaches, Tim Bacik and Greg Walters celebrated on the bench almost as much as the players did on the ice after Courchaine made the third save in the shootout.
 

“Hey, we celebrate every win, but tonight we beat a real good hockey team. We had a short bench and battled in all areas. It’s always exciting to win in a shootout and when it happens, it’s a bonus for us.”
 

MacQueen added, “It was a gutsy performance by our hockey club. All the credit in the world goes to the players from our goalie, the defence and the forwards. We battled and tried to limit their speed. Plymouth has a very explosive hockey club.”
 

Plymouth finished with a 25-13 edge in shots on goal. Whaler’s goalie Matt Hackett stopped two breakaways in the first period by Kale Kerbashian and Brett Appio and faced a third breakaway in the second period from Jesse Stoughton. Stoughton shot wide. Sarnia has now taken seven out of a possible eight points over their last four games.
 

They now get a welcome day off before hosting the Erie Otters on Saturday at 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre. Sarnia plays in Sault Ste.Marie on Sunday night.
 

-         Rogalski, who now has three goals on the season, was first star while A.J. Jenks of the Whalers (two assists), was second star and Courchaine third star.

-         Plymouth thought they had scored on their first shootout attempt when referee Kevin Blundell signalled the pick crossed the line. But after video review, the call was reversed.

-         The Sting had only three shots in the second period and scored two goals.

-         Scratches for the Sting included Daniel Broussard (shoulder), Craig Hottot (jaw) and Brent Sullivan concussion.

-         Sarnia’s overall record improved to 13-17-1-1 while they are 7-7-1-0 on home ice.