Spirit set single game franchise record for goals with 11-8 victory over Sarnia Sting

 

The Saginaw Spirit (15-9-2-2) set a single game franchise record, scoring 11-goals in an 11-8 victory over the Sarnia Sting in an Ontario Hockey League West Division matchup at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ontario last night.

 

The Sting and Spirit exchanged a pair of goals in the first frame with Saginaw's two hottest scorers finding the back of the net when Cole Perfetti (14) lit the lamp at 15:23 of the first, followed by a goal from Dalton Duhart (5) who scored his fifth of the season (in the last 7-games) at the 19:02 mark to send the two teams into the first intermission tied at 2-goals apiece. 

 

Sarnia scored two goals just 35-seconds apart to take a 4-2 lead in the first five minutes of the second period, but the Spirit answered with four straight in the latter half of the middle frame when Danny Katic (4) scored his fourth of the year at 9:27, Damien Giroux (17) followed with his seventeenth of the season at 10:04, Danil Antropov (8) added his first goal in a Spirit sweater (eighth of the year) at 10:55, and Sebastian Bulovs (1) capped the second period scoring with his first career OHL goal for a 6-4 Spirit lead after two periods of play.

 

Perfetti (15) scored his second of the night just :33 seconds into the final frame, while Cole Coskey (14) added his fourteenth of the season at 1:35 of the third, before Saginaw native Mitchell Smith (5) scored the eventual game winning goal with his fifth of the season at 5:45 of a crazy third period, as Giroux (18) added his second of the night and D.J. Busdeker (5) capped the Saginaw scoring with his fifth of the season at 9:02 of a third period that also saw four Sarnia goals. 

 

Saginaw (34-points) is now tied for third place with the Flint Firebirds (34-points) behind first place Guelph Storm (38-points) and second place London Knights (36-points) in a log-jam near the top of the western conference standings.

 

The Spirit have a quick turn-around, returning to the Dow Event Center to host the third place Windsor Spitfires (33-points) in another important conference showdown in downtown Saginaw at 7:05 pm tonight.