SARNIA – The Guelph Storm power play went scoreless in six tries and the Storm managed just 22 shots on net as the visitors fell 5-0 in Game 1 of their opening round playoff series against the Sarnia Sting Friday night.
Game 2 goes Sunday afternoon in Sarnia at 2 p.m.
"I thought we were a little bit nervous. I don't think we played with the energy and the attention to detail that we have been playing," said Storm coach Chad Wiseman after the game.
"It was a new experience for a lot of our guys. That's a good team in a busy environment."
The Sting scored twice on the power play and outshot Guelph 37-22 on the night. Guelph had just 13 shots over the first two periods and then went without a shot on net until the seven minute mark of the third.
Sarnia came out strong in the first, as one might expect on the opening night of the playoffs, dominating play and possession.
Overage defenceman Nolan Dillingham had the lone goal of the opening frame, a wrist shot from a sharp angle that beat Storm netminder Patrick Leaver.
Nolan Burke, on a breakaway, and Marcus Limpar-Lants scored 1:37 apart in the second period to make it 3-0 heading into the third.
Burke's goal was the backbreaker, coming seconds after the Storm came very close to scoring at the other end.
"It could have been 1-1 and it ended up being 2-0 at that time. I thought it was a big turning point of the game," Wiseman said.
"I just think after that in the second period we weren't able to generate a lot of five-on-five offence in the offensive zone. We didn't have a lot of offensive zone puck possession. We spent a lot of time tracking back and defending.
Luca Del Bel Belluz and Sandis Vilmanis, both on the power play, rounded out the scoring in the third.
Ben Gaudreau earned the shutout in the Sarnia net.
Guelph won just 36 per cent of the faceoffs.
"We take a lot of pride being faceoff ready but tonight there were too many faceoffs in our own zone and we were below 40 per cent on faceoffs, which meant we spent a lot of time chasing pucks.
