April 5, 2023 at 6:09 am
Sagnastin was one win away from sweeping the Guelph Storm after an 8-4 win at the Sleeman Center on Tuesday night.
Sandis Vilmanis scored two goals, six other Sting skaters had multiple points and goaltender Ben Gaudreau made 27 saves to give Sarnia a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The Storm got off to a good start with goals from Isaac Enright and Ben McFarlane at 2:43 and 8:44 respectively. Virmanis put Sagna on at 14:41 and Guelph were up 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Sting took off the ice in the second quarter, scoring five goals in less than 10 minutes on the ice. Sasha Pastujov equalized at 1:27, Mitch Young scored his first OHL goal at 2:19, Nolan Burke made it 4-2 at 9:04, Easton Wainwright at 7 After scoring, Vilmanis scored his second goal of the game in 11:19. Sarnia led 6-2 entering the third quarter.
Storm frontman Jake Carabella got the home side home with a short-handed goal with less than a minute to go in the final inning. Matthew Poitras put Guelph within two goals at 5:01. Brendan Anderson restored Sagna’s three-goal lead at 12:44 before Christian Carew netted an empty goal at 16:18 to seal the win 8-4.
The Stings beat the Storm 32-31, with the two teams combined to go 0 for 9 from the field with a manned advantage. Guelph goalie Braden Gillespie was ruled out midway through the second period as he conceded five goals on 18 field goals.
Game 4 of the series returns to Guelph on Thursday night – coverage from CHOK (103.9 FM/1070 AM) begins at 6:30 p.m.