The Sarnia Sting fell to the visiting London Knights 5-2 Saturday afternoon, the hockey club's eighth straight loss.
After the Knights jumped out to 2-0 lead in the first period, Sarnia forward Sean Josling got the Sting on the board early in the middle frame, his 29th goal of the season, to make it 2-1.
The Knights responded about three minutes later with two goals in a span of just 26 seconds to make it 4-1.
Sting captain Ryan McGregor brought his team back within two goals 46 seconds into the third, but that's as close as they would get -- Knights defenceman Alec Regula capped-off the London win with his second goal of the game with under two minutes to play.
Sting forward Sam Bitten said it was another tough loss.
"We want to focus on our starts, we find that's what's been lacking. I thought we did a better job tonight, but this is one of the best teams in the CHL, we knew we had to be good and at times I thought we were way better than them, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough."
The Knights outshot the Sting 47-23 and have now beaten Sarnia in three of their four head-to-head matchups this season -- the two sides will faceoff in London March 6 before wrapping up their regular seasons March 21 in Sarnia.
An enthusiastic crowd of 4,100 was on hand at Progressive Auto Sales Arena to watch the latest installment of the 402 rivalry.
The Sting next host Windsor Friday night, the Knights are in Niagara Tuesday.
