Whalers Sting Sarnia, 2-1, For Sixth Straight Win

Audio provided by Pete Krupsky and www.plymouthwhalers.com.

SARNIA - The Ontario Hockey League playoffs don't start for another couple of months, but the Plymouth Whalers and Sarnia Sting played a game today that had a playoff feel.

The Whalers spotted Sarnia a 1-0 lead in the first period before coming back to defeat the Sting, 2-1, before 3,002 on Sunday afternoon at RBC Centre in Sarnia.

Mitchell Heard's 20th goal of the year at 5:01 of the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and the Whalers utilized excellent penalty killing and goaltending from Scott Wedgewood the rest of the way to win their sixth straight game (11 out of 12) and improve to 28-9-2-1, good for 59 points and first place in ther OHL's West Division.  The Whalers are 14 points ahead of second-place Sarnia (20-16-1-4, 45 points) and are two points behind the top team in the Wester Conference, the London Knights (30-8-0-1, 61 points).

Plymouth is 21-3-0-1 since defeating Kingston, 4-1, on Oct. 29.

Alex Aleardi scored his team-leading 23rd goal of the year for Plymouth to tie the game a 1-1 in the second period and Wedgewood - in his first game for Plymouth since playing for Canada in the 2012 World Junior Championships - stopped 28 of 29 Sarnia shots as the game's first star.

Wedgewood had plenty of help from everyone else who wore a Whalers jersey today, including Rickard Rakell and Dario Trutmann, both back from the World Junior Championships.  J.T. Miller came back Saturday in Plymouth's 4-3 shootout win over Saginaw.

Alex Basso (5th) scored the lone Sarnia goal.

Defense wins games and the Whalers penalty killing unit - second in the OHL at 86.2 percent - killed off three Sarnia power plays in the third period after Heard scored to give the Whalers their first lead of the game.  The penalty killers did their job after Heard was assessed a four-minute double minor for checking former Whaler Tyler J. Brown from behind at 7:09, killed off Tom Wilson's penalty at 12:22 and did the same on a Whalers bench minor at 17:31.

Sarnia scored the first goal of the game on a 4-on-3 power play at 10:14 of the first period when Basso snapped a hard, low shot through traffic in the high slot past Wedgewood.  Sarnia led, 1-0, after one period of play, outshooting Plymouth, 10-4.

Plymouth tied the game at 1-1 at 16:00 of the second period.  Stefan Noesen found Rakell breaking into the Sarnia zone on the left wing and Rakell got a shot from the lower rim of the left circle. Sarnia goaltender J.P. Anderson made the save, but Aleardi jammed home the rebound at the left post.  The puck barely trickled over the line, but the goal counted.

Audio - Alex Aleardi ties the game at 1-1 at 16:00.

Heard gave Plymouth its first lead of the game at 2-1 at 5:01 of the third period, ripping a hard shot from the left circle past Anderson.

Audio - Mitchell Heard gives Plymouth a 2-1 lead at 5:01 of the third period.

Heard's goal set the stage for a frantic final two minutes, with Sarnia head coach Jacques Beaulieu pulling Anderson and giving the Sting a 6-on-4 power play.  In the final seconds, Wedgewood got a piece of Ryan Spooner's shot through traffic in tight and the puck slid past Wedgewood, but Plymouth skated away with a hard-earned victory.

Audio - The final minute of play.

Sarnia outshot Plymouth, 29-22.

The Whalers are off until Friday when they play in Kitchener against the Rangers (7:15 p.m., WSDP-FM, 88.1).  Plymouth plays host to Mississauga on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at (6:45 p.m., WSDP-FM, 88.1).