Gaudreau Perfect As Sarnia Shuts Out Saginaw 3-0

Goaltender Ben Gaudreau (San Jose Sharks) stopped all 26 shots and the Sarnia Sting

beat the Saginaw Spirit 3-0 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals, before another loud and sold-out crowd of 4,320 on Friday night, at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.

Gaudreau stopped 10 shots in the first period, 7 in the second and followed that up with 9 saves in the third to post his second shut-out of the post season and third overall this season. For his effort he was named first star of the game much to the delight of the Sarnia faithful, as they chanted his name, Benny, Benny, in unison.

Easton Wainwright scored in the first period with what proved to be the winning goal and was named second star.

Ethan Del Mastro (Chicago Black Hawks), who laid out some heavy hits and along with all his teammates put up a strong defensive effort in front of Gaudreau was selected as the third star.

Zach Filak notched the insurance goal, early at 1:28 of the third period and Sasha Pastujov (Anaheim Ducks) scored his fourth of the playoffs late into an open net at 17:02 to wrap up the scoring.

Saginaw out-shot Sarnia 26-24 overall. There was only one penalty called in the game and it was assessed to Saginaw.

Sarnia was missing forward Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) and defensemen Christian Kyrou (Dallas Stars) out of the line-up tonight.

Game 2 will be Sunday afternoon (April 16) at the Beehive, with puck-drop at 2:05pm.

In an evenly played first period, Sarnia scored the only goal despite being out-shot 10-8. The goal came late at 17:21, Limpar-Lantz managed to send a pass from his back-hand behind the net to Wainwright, who was parked in front and he scored his third of the playoffs. Burke picked up the second assist. There were no penalties called in the opening period.

Gaudreau was the star of the second period with several outstanding saves to keep the Spirit of the scoreboard. The two teams had seven shots apiece in a scoreless middle frame. The Sting got off to a slow start offensively as they had just one shot on goal in the first ten minutes, but they turned it up following the first and only minor penalty, which was called against Saginaw for a high stick, in the first forty minutes. The Sting come alive with four shots on net during the power-play as they controlled the play with nearly two minutes of possession time in the Spirit end.