Whalers' Third Period Rally Falls Short in 7-5 Loss to Sarnia

Alex Galchenyuk scored two goals and two assists to lead the Sarnia Sting to a 7-5 victory over the Plymouth Whalers in an Ontario Hockey League game played Saturday night before 2,546 at Compuware Arena.

Besides Galchenyuk’s pair (9-10), the Sting received a goal and three assists from Charles Sarault (who has 7 goals on the year) and single markers from Nickolay Goldobin (6th), Nick Latta (6th), Brett Hargrave (2nd) and Reid Boucher (7th).

Plymouth received two goals from Alex Aleardi (6-7) and one each from Ryan Hartman (6th), Stefan Noesen (8th) and Zach Bratina (first OHL goal).

Sarnia’s win bunches up the OHL West Division standings into a four-way tie for first place.  Plymouth (15 games-19 points), Sarnia (17 games-19 points), Sault Ste, Marie (18 games-19 points) and Windsor (18 games-19 points) all have a share of the West Division lead.

See the West Division standings as of Saturday night.

Sarnia never trailed in the game, leading 2-1 after one period , 5-2 after forty minutes and 6-2 in the third period before the Whalers staged a comeback that fell short.  After Hargrave scored at 8:14 to give the Sting a 6-2 lead, Aleardi scored twice (at 14:13 and 15:10) to cut the Sarnia lead to 6-4.

But Boucher scored on a power play at 17:59 to restore Sarnia’s three-goal lead.  Playing with the goaltender pulled, Bratina scored his first OHL goal at 19:08 for the Whalers to cut the Sarnia lead to 7-5.

Plymouth outshot Sarnia, 38-30, including a 20-5 edge in the third period.

The Whalers remain home on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at Compuware Arena, hosting Saginaw in an Election Day Matinee.

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: David Borody, Sarnia Sting.com.

Friday night: Plymouth 3, Sarnia 2.