John-Eric Iannicello
windsorspitfires.com
(Windsor, Ontario) Zack Kassian scored a hat-trick and assisted on the game winning goal by rookie-defender Nick Ebert to edge the Sarnia Sting 5-4 earlier tonight at the WFCU Centre. The Spitfires remain undefeated with a 3-0-1 record in preseason action heading into tomorrow’s rematch with the Sting in Sarnia, Ont.
With defensemen Ryan Ellis and Cam Fowler off to NHL training camps, the Spitfires entered the game against the Sarnia Sting with only four natural defensemen and 15 total players. Newly acquired forward Brendan McCann filled in as the fifth defenseman on the night while goaltender Josh Malecki would get his first full-game start.
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| Photo by Andrew Adam |
The Sting would cut the lead to one a few shifts later when defenseman Nathan Chiarlitti’s shot was kicked out by Malecki right up the middle to a trailing Nick Latta who buried it into the gaping net. Both teams would exchange quality chances late in the first period, but the Spitfires would head to the dressing room with the 2-1 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Spitfires to restore their two-goal lead when Kassian stripped defenseman Chiarlitti of the puck 0:16 seconds into the second period and fired a quick backhand shot over the blocker of Cullen for his second goal of the game to give the Spitfires the 3-1 edge. Malecki was also doing his part to preserve the Spitfire lead when he stopped veteran forward Kale Kerbashian on a partial breakaway, but the Sting would again cut into Windsor’s lead as forward Craig Hottot would score off a hard slap shot that beat Malecki as the Sarnia power play had expired to make it a 3-2 game.
Continuing to find themselves in the penalty box, the Spitfires were unable to handle the Sting’s pressure after the second goal and Brady Vail took a tripping penalty that would put the Sting back on the power play. Seconds into the Sarnia man advantage, Tyler Peters threw the puck at the net from the far side and the shot seemed to fool Malecki tying the game at 3-3.
Sarnia would soon find itself in penalty trouble as they sent the Spitfires to two partial 5-on-3 man advantages. Coach Bob Jones, looking to utilize this advantage, called a timeout to setup his power play unit. After numerous chances to score, the Spitfires finally found the back of the net when Khokhlachev sent a pass from the corner to Kassian who wasted no time completing his hat-trick as he released a hard wrist shot to the top corner to give the Spitfires a 4-3 lead with less than two minutes left in the second period. After 40 minutes of play, Windsor took a 4-3 lead heading into the locker-room.
The back and forth play continued in the third, as the Sting pulled even with the Spitfires after a hard shot from veteran defender Brent Sullivan found the bottom corner through traffic at 7:45 of the third period, evening the affair at 4-4. Malecki kept the game even after a turnover allowed the Sting to break in, with Malecki confidently poke checking the opportunity away.
Chances were exchanged at both ends of the ice including a big pad save by Cullen on MacQueen, but it would remain deadlocked heading into the dire seconds of the third period. Powering to the net, Kassian was taken down by Sullivan, but Khokhlachev was able to recover the puck in the corner and send it out front to a pinching Ebert who was able to squeak it by Cullen with only six seconds left in the game to give the Spitfires the 5-4 victory.
Cullen made 32 saves for the Sting, while Malecki made 26 saves in his first full-start and win of the 2010 exhibition season as a Spitfire.
