The Chatham Maroons scored five unanswered goals to beat the first-place London Nationals 5-2 Saturday night at the Western Fair Centre.
The Nationals still lead the division with 21 points. Chatham is tied for fourth-place with the Komoka Kings with 14 points.
Maroons goaltender Adam Harris said the key was to not lose confidence against a talented squad like London.
"They're a tough team, but if you think they're tough, you're already beaten before the game," said Harris. "You just have to play it like any other game. It was a tough first period, and we went down 2-0, but we knew we could come back and that's exactly what we did."
The Nationals started scoring early. Noah Tooke drew first blood just past the two-minute mark of the first frame. Christian Polillo doubled the London lead late in the period.
Chatham used the middle stanza to get back into the game. Matt Murray scored on the power play at 2:43 to put the Maroons on the board, then Nolan Gardiner tied the game up just 40 seconds later. The score was knotted 2-2 when the teams went to the locker room after 40 minutes of play.
The Maroons broke it open with three unanswered goals in the final frame. Eddie Schulz scored short-handed to break the tie at just 48 seconds in. Zach Power and Thomas Michaud also scored in the stanza for Chatham.
Harris had 40 stops out of 42 tries. He says taking the game in London was a gratifying feeling.
"As Justin Badour said before the game, there's no better feeling than winning this in London's barn, so it's pretty damn good," said Harris.
Zachary Springer had 27 saves in the losing effort for the Nationals, who next host Leamington Wednesday night. The Maroons return to Memorial Arena Sunday night and face Komoka.
