Ryan McGregor scored the winner in overtime in the Sarnia Sting's 6-5 win over the Firebirds in Flint Saturday night.
The Sting now have sole possession of third place in the OHL West Division with 13 points.
Sarnia was on the power play when they scored their first goal. It came off the stick of Mitch Eliot at 11:23. The Sting doubled their lead when Sean Josling scored short-handed over four minutes later, then tripled the lead on Hugo Leufvenius' goal before the end of the first period.
Flint cut into Sarnia's lead with two goals late in the middle stanza. Connor Roberts put the Firebirds on the board at 18:18, than Jack Phibbs put Flint back into the game when he scored with 11 seconds left in the period.
Roberts picked up his second goal of the game at 4:14 of the third period to tie the game at 3-3. However, Eliot gave the Sting back the lead just over two minutes following with his second goal of the game. Throughout the remainder of regulation, the teams took turns scoring. Ethan Keppen tied the game for the Firebirds again, followed by Sarnia taking back the lead once more on a power play goal from Jacob Perreault. Keppen scored again to tie the game at five-all and force the game into overtime. McGregor's winner was scored 63 seconds into the extra period.
Ethan Langevin had 20 saves in net for Sarnia. Luke Cavallin stopped 38 shots in 44 attempts for Flint.
Sting associate coach Brad Staubitz had some concerns following the game. "Once we have the lead we have to stay away from that back-and-forth hockey. We had a lot of Grade-A chances tonight. Capitalize on those it's probably a whole different game."
Staubitz had praise for the winless Firebirds. "They work hard and they worked themselves right back into the game. We're happy to get those two points and get out of here, actually."
On Sunday's home game against Saginaw Staubitz said "Keep it rolling. Wake up, get back to the rink and get right back at it."
Gametime is 2:05 p.m. at the Progressive Sales Arena. The pregame show starts at 1:40 p.m. on 103.9 FM - 1070 AM CHOK.
