Sting Snap Skid With Win Against IceDogs

The Sarnia Sting took on the Niagara IceDogs this afternoon, and came away with a 6-5 win, their first victory since February 22nd.

Jack Studnicka opened the scoring for Niagara five minutes and forty-five seconds into the game, his 31st goal of the season, this one shorthanded.

Anthony Tabak responded five minutes later with his second goal of the season and first as a member of the Sarnia Sting to make it 1-1. Calvin Martin and Kelton Hatcher drew the assists.

The Sting doubled their amount of goals in the game with a tally by Sean Josling just under seven minutes into the period. Josling buried a one-timer off of a nice pass to score his 20th goal of the season. He is Sarnia's fifth 20-goal scorer this season, and Josling's second 20-goal season. He had 21 goals last season. Ryan McGregor and Hugo Leufvenius drew the assists.

Franco Sproviero added his 22nd goal of the season to make it 3-1 for the Sting. Mitch Eliot drew the assist on the shorthanded goal.

The IceDogs responded when Jason Robertson scored his 43rd goal of the season with six minutes and sixteen seconds remaining in the second period.

Studnicka tied things up with his second goal of the game and 32nd of the season, assisted by Ivan Lodnia and Jason Robertson.

Josling added his second goal of the game just a minute and twenty-one seconds into the third period to make it 4-3 for the Sting. This goal tied a career-high for Josling. McGregor and Leufvenius drew the assists.

With just under four minutes to play in the third period, Curtis Egert makes it 5-3 in favour of Sarnia with his 13th goal of the season, scored on the power play. Justin McCombs and Nick Grima had the assists.

Kirill Maksimov brought the game to within a goal with his 38th goal of the season, assisted by Robertson and Studnicka.

With only a minute and four seconds to play, Kelton Hatcher scored his sixth goal of the season on the empty net to give the Sting a 6-4 lead.

Ben Jones scored his 38th goal of the season for Niagara with just twenty-nine seconds to play to make it a one-goal game. Robertson and Elijah Roberts drew the assists.

The Sting held off the IceDogs for the remaining time, and came away with a 6-5 win against one of the better teams in the league. Ethan Langevin started for Sarnia and turned aside 43/48 shots for the win. Stephen Dhillon started for Niagara and allowed six goals on thirty-one shots in the loss.

The Sting remain in seventh place in the Western Conference standings after this win. However, they close the gap between them and sixth-place Owen Sound to three points, and put a three-point gap between them and eighth-place Windsor. With only five games remaining for Sarnia, they are so close in the standings that almost anything can happen. They could move up into either sixth or even fifth, they could remain in seventh, or they could even fall out of a playoff spot.

Sarnia's next game is on Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie.