Sting dominate special teams to get back in series against Spitfires after 5-2 win

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Special teams were supposed to be a decided advantage for the Windsor Spitfires in the club’s first-round series with the Sarnia Sting.

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On Tuesday, the Sting turned the tables by using special teams to get back into the series with the Spitfires.

Sarnia scored four power-play goals and killed off all five power-play chances by the Spitfires in a 5-2 win before 2,286 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.

With the win, the eighth-seeded Sting now trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven, Western Conference quarter-final series. Game 4 is Thursday in Sarnia at 7:05 pm

“It’s been a tough go here,” Spitfires’ head coach Marc Savard said after the game. “That’s the first time, in a long time, our penalty kill has let in a couple.

“It’s playoff hockey. There are ups and downs in a series and this is a little downer, but we’ll get back on it. No one’s pointing fingers and we’ll all be better, coaches across the board.”

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Sarnia failed to convert on seven power-play chances in the first two games of the series and two chances in the opening period of Tuesday’s game before scoring on four-straight advantages against a Windsor team that was No. 2 in efficiency in the 20- team league at 82.6 per cent during the regular season.

“I think we took some bad penalties,” Savard said. “You can kill a couple, but you can’t kill them all.”

After a scoreless opening period, Spitfire rookie Ethan Miedema opened the scoring with a wrist shot that beat Sting goal Ben Gaudreau high over his blocker.

The Spitfires could not escape the period with the lead as Ty Voit scored Sarnia’s first power-play goal with just under three minutes left in the period and Max Namestnikov added a second with just 15 seconds left in the period to put Sarnia up 2-1 and give the Sting its first lead in the series in 159 minutes and 45 seconds of play.

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Rookie Ryan Abraham pulled Windsor even just over two minutes into the third period, but Windsor penalty problems opened the door for Nolan DeGurse and Ethan Ritchie to score power-play goals to put Sarnia up 4-2.

Meanwhile, the Spitfires were unable to convert with five chances in the game, which included three chances in the scoreless opening period.

“We have to get more results from our big guys,” said Savard, who saw his top line of Wyatt Johnston, Matthew Maggio and Will Cuylle held pointless in the game.

Windsor, which had the league’s third-best power play during the regular season at 26.1 per cent. now you have just a single goal in 17 chances in the series against a Sarnia team that was last in the league on the penalty kill in the regular season and allowed 20 goals on 40 chances to the Spitfires in the regular season.

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DeGurse added his second of the game, into an empty net, to seal the win for the Sting, who were outshot 32-23 in the game.

Spit bits: Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler picked up an extra 15th-round draft pick prior to Tuesday’s game in a deal with the Sudbury Wolves

The Ontario Hockey League Draft is set for Friday and Saturday and a trade window opened this week for teams to deal picks, but not players.

Bowler called it a deal that balances his draft board for the next two seasons. He acquired Sudbury’s 15th-round pick this year for Windsor’s 14th-round pick in 2023. The Spitfires now have 15 picks in the 15-round draft this year with no pick in the fifth round, but two in the sixth round.

Bowler still has 16 picks in next year’s draft with multiple selections in the third round and fourth round.

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For the first time in the series, the Spitfires made a lineup switch, but it had nothing to do with poor play.

Rookie defenseman Bronson Ride stepped in for his first game with defenseman Daniil Sobolev sidelined by a non-COVID-19 illness. Forwards Christopher O’Flaherty and Avval Baisov were both a healthy scratch for the third time in this series.

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Game Summary

Monday Result

Sting 5 Spitfires 2

Windsor 0 1 1 – 2

Scabies 0 2 3 – 5

Firstperiod: Not scoring. Penalties: Peer W (too many men) :56, Ritchie S (hooking) 4:42, Voit S (high sticking) 6:57, Currie W (holding) 10:15, DeGurse S (holding the stick) 15:42.

Secondperiod: 1. Windsor, Miedema 1 (Jodoin, Peer) 7:47, 2. Sarnia, Voit 1 (Dann, DeGurse) 17:01 (pp), 3. Sarnia, Namestnikov 1 (Dann, Voit) 19:45 (pp) . Penalties: Jodoin W (roughing), Mast S (interference) 3:38, Henault W (high sticking) 15:18, Miedema W (delay of game) 18:05, Abraham W (roughing), Filak S (roughing) 20:00 .

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Third period: 4. Windsor, Abraham 1 (D’Amico, Perrott) 2:08, 5. Sarnia, DeGurse 1 (Voit, Dann) 4:06 (pp), 6. Sarnia, Ritchie 1 (Sikic, Dann) 6:07 (pp), 7. Sarnia, DeGurse 2 (Namestnikov, Mast) 18:30 (in). Penalties: Henault W (unsportsmanlike conduct), Namestnikov S (unsportsmanlike conduct) 2:28, Ribau W (tripping) 3:35, Renwick W (interference) 5:49, Romeo S (hooking) 12:04, Romeo S (tripping) 15 :05.

Game stats – SOG – Windsor 12 9 11 – 32 Sarnia 5 11 7 – 23 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Onuska (L, 2-1-0) (22-18). Sarnia: Gaudreau (W,1-2-0) (32-30). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 0-5. Scabies 4-6. Referees: Ryan Hutchison (20) and Alex Ross (29). Linesmen: Kyle Flood (66) and Brad Horan (75). Att.: 2,286 at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.