Sarnia has opened up a three point lead over Windsor after an impressive 5-1 road win Thursday night.
Pavel Zacha opened the scoring 4:46 into the game with a snap shot from the slot that beat Windsor goalie Mario Culina low blocker side. Sam Studnicka added to the Sting lead just a few minutes later, finishing off a beautiful passing play from Nikita Korostelev and Josh Jacobs. Both of Sarnia's first period goals came with the man advantage.
Sarnia was unable to score on a lengthy powerplay to begin the second frame. Shortly after stepping out of the box Windsor's Mikhail Sergachev wired a shot past Charlie Graham to trim Sarnia's lead to one.
The goal ignited the WFCU Centre, which had been relatively quiet up until that point. Their excitement was short lived as Jeff King stole the puck from Christian Fischer and roofed a shot over Culina on a breakaway. That was it for Culina, who was pulled for the second straight game, he allowed three goals on 13 shots.
King says he took advantage of an opportunity at a pivotal moment in the game
"I had a clean breakaway, which I don't get too many of those so I was thinking what I was going to do," says King. "It just kind of happened, I couldn't tell you what happened but it went in the net and that's all that matters in the end.
The goalie swap didn't change much, as the Sting scored on the first shot Michael DiPietro faced. It was no fault of DiPietro's, he was beat by a great individual effort from Travis Konecny that will very likely be featured in the OHL's top plays of the week.
DiPietro settled in after that, making a glove save off of a Matt Mistele one timer shortly after to keep Sarnia's lead at three.
The save gave the home team a bit of a boost as they came storming back in the period's final minutes. They came close to cutting into the Sting lead but Charlie Graham made his biggest save of the night, robbing a Windsor forward in tight with a sprawling glove save, maintaining the three goal lead through 40 mintutes.
Windsor didn't have much left in the tank for the third period, and a Nikita Korostelev goal just over five minutes in gave Sarnia a four goal edge. It was Korostelv's 20th goal of the season, the fifth Sting player to reach the 20 goal mark this season.
King, who had a goal and two assists in the game says it was a big statement game for the hockey club.
"To win 5-1 is a big statement, a lot of teams are still unsure about us, thinking it's kind of lucky, but we're the real deal."
The win gives Sarnia a three point lead over Windsor in the West Division with a game in hand over the Spitfires.
The focus now shifts to Friday night where the Sting can add to their division lead when they host Saginaw at the Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Centre.
