The logo of the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League
The Owen Sound Attack are running out of time to claw their way out of eighth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference.
Ty Voit had a goal and an assist as the Sarnia Sting toppled the Attack 4-1 at Progressive Auto Sales Arena Friday night.
The Sting (40-17-5-4) extended their point-streak to 17-games with the win. Owen Sound (31-28-6-1) dropped its fourth straight game.
The game was marked by a scary moment with 6:54 to go in the second period. Attack forward Tomislav Brennan was caught with a big hit by Sting captain Nolan Dillingham as he tried to enter the Sarnia zone.
Dillingham left Brennan on his back after the open ice hit – and Owen Sound’s training staff immediately rushed on the ice to attend to the young forward. Paramedics in the rink ended up coming on the ice to assist and Brennan left the surface on a stretcher.
He was awake and alert after the game, after being closely examined by medical staff at the rink.
Voit opened the scoring at 8:41 of the first period. Sarnia’s leading scorer picked up a loose puck on a broken play a few feet outside the Attack crease and backhanded a shot that beat Corbin Votary high on the short-side.
The Attack tied it about four minutes later. James Petrovski let a shot from the point go that found its way through traffic and past a screened Ben Gaudreau.
Sarnia would re-take the lead in the second period. Easton Wainwright scored his 11th of the season, pouncing on a rebound out front of the Attack net and depositing the puck into the net to make it 2-1 at 6:24.
That’s how things stood after 40 minutes of play.
Gaudreau kept it a 2-1 game with a big save early in the third. Landen Hookey received a pass in tight and tried to deke forehand to backhand to shovel it past Gaudreau, but the Sting netminder stuck with him and managed to make the save.
Marcus Limpar-Lantz scored at 8:32 to make it 3-1 Sarnia. Luca Del Bel Belluz would add an empty-netter.
Gaudreau made 25 saves in the win, while Votary stopped 28 taking the loss. Sarnia outshot Owen Sound 32-26 while going 0 for 2 on the power play; the Attack finished 0 for 4.
Next up for Owen Sound is a trip to Flint to face the Firebirds (35-27-4-1) on Saturday night.
THE RACE FOR NOT EIGHTH
The Attack can still finish as high as sixth in the OHL’s Western Conference, but the task over the final two days for Owen Sound won’t be easy.
The regulation loss to Sarnia dropped the Attack three points back of the seventh-place Kitchener Rangers, and four points back of sixth-place Guelph Storm.
Both Guelph and Kitchener have one game remaining, while the Attack have two.
Here’s how things look for Owen Sound. The Attack need to win both their remaining games to have any chance of moving up out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference.
They also need help beyond that. In addition to the two wins, the Attack need regulation losses for Guelph and/or Kitchener to pass one of their Midwest Division rivals over the final two days of the regular season.
If the Attack manage to finish tied with Guelph, they hold the tiebreaker with more regulation of overtime wins. Owen Sound would finish behind Kitchener in the standings if they end up tied in points.
An eighth-place finish for Owen Sound would set up a first-round matchup against the Windsor Spitfires, who clinched top spot in the Western Conference Friday night with a win.