The Sarnia Sting was unable to complete the comeback in Mississauga Sunday afternoon.
Mitch Eliot scored a goal with 1:39 left in regulation to bring the Sting to within one of the Steelheads, but Sarnia was unable to force overtime in their 3-2 loss to Mississauga at Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
Sarnia dropped its second game in a row and now remain at 45 points, third place in the OHL West Division.
Ryan Wells broke the scoreless tie for Mississauga late in the first period, and the score remained 1-0 when intermission arrived. Jacob Perreault tied the game for Sarnia at 17:55 of the second period, but the Steelheads took the lead again when Cole Carter scored his 28th goal of the year with 56 seconds left in the frame.
Thomas Harley put in the insurance goal for the Steelheads early in the third period.
Jacob Ingham stopped 27 shots out of 29 attempts in goal for Mississauga. Sarnia's Ethan Langevin had 25 saves in net.
The Sting next host the Niagara IceDogs Saturday night.
