If you think the Sarnia Sting is just playing out the string this season, think again.
The Sting took the third-best team in the Ontario Hockey League, the London Knights to the limit before bowing 4-3 before a season-high crowd of 4,671 fans Saturday night at the RBC Centre.

For whatever the reason, the Sarnia-London rivalry still remains, even though it doesn’t display all the rough and tumble play of years gone by.

Nazem Kadri was the only shooter of five to score in the shootout to provide London with the victory.

Before that it was a see-saw battle with the teams tied 1-1 after the first period before London led 3-2 after the second. Sarnia scored four minutes into the third period to tie the game.

“I wouldn’t say it was the prettiest game to watch, but we did what we had to do to stay with a very competitive team,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. “We did some things I haven’t seen in a month. We blocked shots and there was that general enthusiasm of the players pulling for one another.

“We made some adjustments before the game and after the first period. Shayne Campbell came up with some big saves, especially in the third period and gave us a chance.”

MacQueen says it’s important to compete the way his team did even though they are not going to the playoffs and London isn’t playing for much at this point.

“It means something to us. London still could catch Windsor for first in the Conference. We want to impress on our players to play like this considering we aren’t going to the post-season and this is our playoff. To be able to move forward we have to be at least competitive in games like this.”

One of the Sting players who played arguably the best game of his two-year OHL career was diminutive centerman Jesse Stoughton. He scored a pair of goals and was the game’s first star.

“I would agree it was his best game in two years,” said MacQueen. “He was working and hustling. The puck was like a magnet on his stick. It’s funny how your mindset and confidence level changes when you get a goal or two. Jesse’s confidence level was sky-high tonight.”

Stoughton played through a sore shoulder he injured on Thursday night against Sault Ste. Marie.

“I thought I had a pretty good game against London last year,” said Stoughton. “It would have been nice to bury my chance in the shootout and win it for the boys. I was just working hard and battling. We all didn’t play well in Guelph and the coach let us know that. As one of the older guys I wanted to step up and be a leader.”

Stoughton liked the way the Sting played.

“The most important thing was we battled hard right to the end. I think with a couple of breaks we easily could have won the game.”

The Sting opened the scoring 14 minutes into the game when Brandon Francisco fired a low wrist shot between the legs of London goalie Michael Houser on a two-on-one break. For Francisco it was his 11th goal of the year.

London tied the game just over four minutes later when Jared Knight knocked in a rebound off a point shot.

The Knights took their first lead early in period two when Justin Taylor sent home a passout from Kadri. But Stoughton scored his first goal of the night at 13:40 to tie the game when he took a pass from Kyle Neuber and picked the top corner on the glove side.

A questionable tripping penalty to the Sting resulted in London capitalizing on their power play at 16:54 when Knight got his second of the game finishing off a nice passing play.

Stoughton’s second goal and 12th of the year four minutes into period three tied the game at 3-3. He described the shorthanded tally.

“We had been putting pressure on them in their own zone. Miro (Preisinger) made one pass and then I made one. I knew exactly what their guy was going to do, as they wanted to get the puck to Kadri. I stuck my stick in there and managed to knock the puck away and got a breakaway. I didn’t want to do anything fancy. I just drove hard to the net and got a backhand home.”

For the remainder of the periods the teams took turns getting a scoring chance. After killing off three straight penalties Sarnia had their lone power play of the period with less than three minutes to play. Craig Hottot had the best chance when his slapshot from the right point bounced off the crossbar.

The Sting held a 5-2 edge in shots on goal in overtime and almost was able to jam the puck on one occasion past the London goalie during a scramble.

In the shootout, Stoughton, Zack MacQueen and Hottot all missed for the Sting. Kadri scored on London’s first try while Campbell stopped Knight on their second shot.

London finished with a 30-18 edge in shots on goal.

The Knights went one-for-seven on the power play while Sarnia was zero-for-two.

The Sting now prepare for their final three games of the season. They play at London Wednesday before hosting Guelph on Thursday and conclude the season Saturday night at home against Windsor. Both home games begin at 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre.


- Stoughton was first star with Knight second star and Kadri third star.
- London has now won four of the five meetings between the two clubs.
- Francisco was named the RBC Scholastic Player of the Month for February.