Sting Drop Series Opener to Spirit

This game looked very promising. The Sarnia Sting appeared to have a hold on things after the first period and for parts of the second and third periods, but it was a three and a half minute sequence at the start of the second period that was the dagger.

Hugo Leufvenius opened the scoring just over four minutes into the first period with a nice one-timer from the left side that found a way past Ivan Prosvetov. Franco Sproviero had the assist.

Leufvenius added his second of the game with just four seconds to play in the third with a nice finish right in front of the net to make it 2-0 for the Sting. Sproviero drew his second assist of the game and Jacob Perreault had the other.

The Sting had an amazing first period, going into the break with a 2-0 lead. They played very well and seemed to get Saginaw off of their game. They also outshot them 14-2 in the period, so that helped. It seemed as though the Sting had a chance to pull away from the Spirit in this game.

Blade Jenkins got Saginaw on the board just one minute and twelve seconds into the second period, with Brady Gilmour and Bode Wilde getting the assists.

The Spirit tied things up right around the three minute mark of the second period, with Ethan Cardwell getting the goal this time around. Assisting on the goal was Cole Perfetti and Justin Murray.

Owen Tippett gave Saginaw their first lead of the game just a minute later, which took the air out of Sarnia's tires at that point. Ryan McLeod and Brady Gilmour drew the assists on the go-ahead tally.

After the second period, the Spirit had a 3-2 lead. Sarnia outshot them 14-8 that period, giving the Sting a 28-10 lead in shots in the whole game.

Six minutes and eleven seconds into the third period, Cole Perfetti scored his first goal of the playoffs to put Saginaw up 4-2. McLeod and Tippett assisted on the power play goal.

Just twenty-two seconds later, Nick Grima takes a pass from Franco Sproviero and buries a backhander in the slot to make it a one-goal game yet again. Leufvenius drew the secondary assist on the goal.

Bode Wilde made it 5-3 for the Spirit with seven minutes to play in the final period of regulation. Camaryn Baber had the only assist.

Owen Tippett scored his second of the game into the empty Sting net with a minute to play to put the game away at 6-3.

Ivan Prosvetov got the start for the Sprit and stopped 34/37 shots in the win. Ethan Langevin got the start for the Sting and saved 18/23 shots in the loss.

These teams are back at it for game two of this series on Saturday night in Saginaw at 7:05pm.