The Sarnia Sting are heading to round two of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs following a 4-3 overtime win in Guelph Sunday afternoon.
Nolan Burke put home the overtime winner, Sasha Pastujov scored twice against his former team, and Sting netminder Ben Gaudreau made 16 saves helping Sarnia take the first-round matchup in six games.
Guelph's Matthew Poitras opened the scoring at 15:51 of the first period, giving the Storm a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Pastujov got the Sting on the board at 7:36 of the middle frame, tying the game at 1-1.
Former Sting Max Namestnikov responded with a power play goal at 9:30, his team-leading fourth goal of the series.
At 14:56, Sarnia's Ty Voit scored his first of the series to make it 2-2 heading into the third period.
The back-and-forth continued when Charlie Paquette gave the Storm their third one-goal lead at 4:48.
Pastujov evened the game at 3-3 two-and-a-half minutes later, his third goal of the series, and second of the game.
Neither team scored during the final 12:41 of the third period, meaning the two teams needed overtime for the second time in the series.
Burke, who scored Sarnia's OT winner in Game 2, came up big again with a wraparound goal at 4:05, sending the Sting to the western conference semifinals. Burke, who led Sarnia with 50 goals during the regular season, scored a team high four goals during the first round series.
The Sting outshot the Storm 4-0 in overtime, 10-3 in the third period and 32-19 overall.
Sarnia will host either the Saginaw Spirit or Flint Firebirds in round two.
Saginaw hosts Flint Monday night in Game 7 of that series.
