R1 G1 at Saginaw Preview (Mar. 21/19)

For the first time since 2012, the Sarnia Sting and Saginaw Spirit will face off in the OHL playoffs.

In the regular season this season, the Sting finished seventh in the Western Conference with a 28-33-5-2 record. The Spirit finished in second place in the Western Conference with a 45-17-3-3 record. They are expecting to go on a big playoff run and acquired some big-name players such as Ryan McLeod and Owen Tippett. This will be a tough series for the Sting, but it is possible for the Sting to get some wins.

In that 2012 playoff series, it was a 4th place against fifth place matchup, with Sarnia getting home ice advantage in that series. Both teams had fairly good lineups, with multiple future NHLers on the ice. Saginaw had Brandon Saad, Vincent Trochek, Jake Paterson and Nick Moutrey. The Sting looked a bit better than their opponents that year, playing a lineup that consisted of Nail Yakupov, Charles Sarault, Reid Boucher, Ryan Spooner, Connor Murphy, Anthony DeAngelo and Alex Galchenyuk.

The rosters look a bit different this time around. Saginaw has a few more big-name players, including Owen Tippett, Ryan McLeod, Cole Perfetti, Justin Murray, Bode Wilde and Ivan Prosvetov. Compared to the Spirit, the Sting got the short end of the stick, but they still have some notable players in their lineup, including Ryan McGregor, Hugo Leufvenius, Jamieson Rees, Jacob Perreault, Mitch Eliot and Franco Sproviero.

In order for the Sting to gain an edge in this series, they will have to get Saginaw off of their game early on in the game. They did just that in their 7-6 Family Day win just over a month ago. Sagianw's goaltender, Ivan Prosvetov, is known to get somewhat easily frustrated, and if Sarnia can get a couple quick goals on him then game one, if not the whole series, could have a different outlook.

Since that playoff series in 2012, which Saginaw won in six games, the Sting have won only one playoff series, which was last season. Saginaw has not yet won a playoff series since then, so both teams will be looking to improve on their playoff success.

Puck drop for game one is set for 7:05pm at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.