The Sarnia Sting came prepared, and the Soo Greyhounds paid the price on Sunday.
The Sting were opportunistic early and used the quick start to grab a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Greyhounds at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Sarnia grabbed a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old and never trailed in the victory, despite getting outshot 34-21 in the contest.
“We lacked energy and they were clearly excited to play,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said. “You could tell just by the way the bench was going that they valued the game. It was a big game for us as well and we told our guys as much, but for some reason didn’t come out as hard as we’d like."
Dean said he liked the remainder of the opening period after starting slow and spotting the Sting the lead.
“It’s almost like the two goals spurred us,” he said.
Dean added that he felt there was a letdown after the Sting made it a 4-2 game midway through the second period.
“I really liked the rest of our first period and the first 10 minutes of the second,” Dean added. “We start to find some success and then we go back and get up to our old tricks. We got a little lackadaisical at their blue. When that fourth goal went in, we had a real letdown for about six or seven minutes and proceeded to be inconsistent over the third period.”
For the Sting, the start was about seizing their chances.
“In the first period, we played well,” said Alan Letang, head coach of the Sting. “We were opportunistic on some of their mistakes and a couple of their turnovers. We got a little fortunate that way.”
Letang added that the play of goaltender Nick Surzycia played a role in the start as well.
The start of the second period was a struggle for the Sting.
“(The Greyhounds) ramped it up,” Letang said. “They’re a team that hunts pucks and when they put pressure on some of our young defencemen, we got a little antsy with the puck, but we settled down a little bit at the end of the second.
The Sting made things difficult for the Greyhounds as the homeside looked to get back into the game after falling behind.
Letang said the Sting’s identity is one of being able to counter quickly on teams.
“We’re not a big, heavy team that’s good at cycling and grinding teams down. We have to counter quickly when we create a turnover in the neutral zone or a quick turnover in the D zone and then it’s a couple passes and we’re going off the rush. Early on (in the game), our entries were really good and we were having the pose and confidence to make the play at the blueline and if it wasn’t there, we put it in deep.”
On the flip side, the Greyhounds continued a trend of being an inconsistent team.
“We get away from our game quite a bit when we’re finding success,” Dean said. “From game one, we’ve had periods where the formula is clearly there and we get away from it. It’s a little bit of youth and maturity in your game. When you find something that works, you have to stick to it.”
Asked what his message will be for his team heading into the final two games prior to the OHL’s Christmas break, Dean talked about being better from the bench out, referencing a bench minor penalty he took in the third period of Sunday’s contest.
“I have to be better,” Dean said. “I can’t take the bench minor there, which is disappointing, especially after recent events. It’s tough for me to hold these guys to a standard when I’m not holding myself to a standard.”
Dean added that the bench minor was something he planned to discuss with the team “and apologize to the guys for my behaviour on the bench.”
“We all have to regroup as a team,” Dean said. “We all have to get after it as a team and dig our boots in.”
The bench minor came after a referee discussion regarding a penalty to Sarnia’s Tyson Doucette, who was penalized for a hit on Greyhounds forward Travis Hayes.
When asked what the referees discussion was leading up to Dean’s displeasure, the Greyhounds coach replied “I’m not sure, I’ve got no comment.”
Sarnia opened the scoring as Bekham Edwards took a pass in the slot from Tyson Doucette and beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel stick side at 3:59 of the opening period.
The Sting extended the lead 39 seconds later as Zach Filak took a breakaway pass from Liam Beamish and beat Schenkel with a shot stick side to make it a 2-0 game less than five minutes into the contest.
The Greyhounds got on the board 1:51 into the second period as Jordan Charron took a short pass in the slot from Brady Smith and beat Sting goaltender Nick Surzycia stick side to make it a one-goal game.
Sarnia took a 3-1 lead as Ryan Brown took a pass in the slot from Beamish and beat Schenkel stick side at 3:24.
With the Greyhounds on the power play, Marco Mignosa cut the lead to 3-2 by beating Surzycia off a back-door pass from Noel Nordh at 4:28.
Sarnia restored the two-goal lead again as Casey Bridgewater beat Schenkel with a point shot through traffic at 9:20. The goal ended Schenkel’s night between the pipes as he was replaced by Landon Miller following the goal.
Beamish continued his big day offensively by beating Miller with a shot high stick side from the slot at 14:27 of the third period to make it a 5-2 game.
Dylan Leucke made it a 6-2 game with an empty net goal with 4:20 to go in the third before Justin Cloutier capped off the Greyhounds scoring by beating Surzycia with a backhand from in close with 3:40 to go.
Cloutier had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds in the loss.
Schenkel stopped nine of 13 Sarnia shots before being pulled. Miller stopped six shots the rest of the way for the Greyhounds.
Beamish finished the night with a goal and two assists for the Sting while Brown and Edwards had a goal and an assist each for Sarnia.
Surzycia stopped 31 shots for Sarnia.
The Greyhounds wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the regular season schedule with a pair of games on the road. The team will be in North Bay on Wednesday night to play the Battalion before facing the Guelph Storm on Friday night in Guelph.
The Greyhounds will take a 14-17-0-0 record on the road following Sunday’s loss.
Sarnia improves to 10-17-2-5 with the victory.