It was one of those games the Sarnia Sting would like to forget all about.

The Saginaw Spirit came to the RBC Centre and skated off with a 6-1 victory before 3,461 fans, Friday night in Ontario Hockey League action.

The loss dropped Sarnia’s record to 8-6-1-0 while Saginaw improved to 8-4-2-0.

The Spirit never trailed in last night’s game taking a 2-1 lead after one period and was ahead 4-1 after two periods.

Sting head coach Dave MacQueen summed up his team’s performance in this fashion.

“It shows what happens when a team is not in sync. We didn’t execute on anything, there was no work ethic and no energy level. I think I can count on one hand the number of guys who played a decent game.

“If we are not working and competing we are going to have games like this. It’s not as if Saginaw dominated the game. They capitalized on their chances and we didn’t generate anything on offence. It also shows what happens when you play as individuals and not as a team.”

The turning point in MacQueen’s eyes came midway through the first period. Saginaw was enjoying a 1-0 lead, but the Spirit took four penalties allowing the Sting to hold a two-man advantage for three minutes and 38 seconds.

The Sting could muster just two shots on goal.

“I don’t think we had a scoring chance,” said MacQueen. “Our set-up on the ice was no where close to where it should have been or what we had practiced. It was also like a foreign game, as our five guys didn’t seem to know one another. It was certainly easy to defend against.”

Sarnia’s inability to score on the power play was evident the remainder of the game as they finished zero-for-nine with the man advantage. Saginaw was one-for-four on the power play.

Jordan Skellett led the Spirit with a goal and three assists. Jordan Szwarz, Tyler Murovich, Joe Pleckaitis, Ivan Telegin and Josh Shalla added single goals while T.J. Brodie chipped in with three assists.

Craig Hottot scored the lone Sting goal, his second of the season in the first period to give the Sting a 1-1 tie. Saginaw scored what turned out to be the winning goal, by Skellett four minutes later.

Sarnia actually outshot Saginaw 36-28. Ed Pasquale was the winning goalie while Adam Courchaine took the loss.

MacQueen says the Sting can bounce back.

“We should be upset about the loss, but then again we’ve been on a pretty good run of late, (Sarnia has won seven of their past nine games), with a young hockey team. It’s good we get right on the bus and go into Belleville tomorrow night.”

He added, “If we learned one thing tonight it gives the coaching staff the hammer to the players that we tried it your way and it didn’t work. We have to get back to a team again.”

The game was not particularly rough, but there were three fights, all in the second period.

“I think there was the hype of what happened in Saginaw in the last game and our guys got caught up in playbacks instead of playing the game,” said MacQueen.

The Sting resume action tonight when they battle the Bulls in Belleville while Sunday afternoon Sarnia will be in Kitchener to take on the Rangers. Sarnia’s next home game is Thursday when they take on Saginaw again beginning at 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre.

• All three stars were from Saginaw with Skellett first star, Brodie second star and Szwarz third star.

• Scratches for the Sting included Brent Sullivan (sick), Steven Reese (extra OA) and Ted Brithen (numbers).

•  Associate coach Greg Walters of the Sting was not behind the bench as he was attending the funeral of his father-in-law, who died earlier this week.

•  Sarnia’s home record dropped to 4-3-1-0 while Saginaw is now 5-2-2-0 on the road.