Despite a strong start to the game, the Sarnia Sting were doubled up 6-3 by the Spirit on Thursday night to kick off the OHL playoffs in Saginaw.
The seventh seeded Sting now trail the best of seven set 1-0 against the number two Spirit.
The Sting scored a pair of first period goals off the stick of Hugo Leufvenius, including one with just four seconds remaining.
Franco Sproviero assisted on both goals and had three helpers on the night. The Sting outshot the Spirit 14-2 after the opening frame.
The Spirit scored three goals in the second period and another early in the third to jump out to a 4-2 advantage. Nick Grima made it a 4-3 contest, but Saginaw scored two more times including an empty netter to seal the win.
Sting Assistant Coach Brad Staubitz said they had a great game and have to keep their confidence level high.
"We have to have confidence in this team," said Staubitz. "We saw that we took complete control of the game at points and not just for a couple of minutes. There were extended periods of time where we controlled the play, our pressure on them was fantastic in causing turnovers and generating opportunities. Our capitalization rate has to go up. We're going to get our chances if we play with that energy so we have to capitalize on them."
Owen Tippett led the way for the Spirit with two goals and an assist. Bode Wilde, and Cole Perfetti each had a goal and an assist.
Sting goalie Ethan Langevin stopped 18 of 23 shots, while Ivan Prosvetov turned aside 34 of 37 shots in the Saginaw net.
The Sting had their powerplay chances, but failed to score on five attempts.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday night in Saginaw. Games three and four will be at Progressive Auto Sales Arena next Tuesday and Thursday night.
As always, you can hear all of the action on 103.9FM and 1070AM CHOK.
