The Sarnia Sting improved to 5-1-1 versus the London Knights this season with an 8-3 win on home ice Wednesday night.
Ty Voit scored a hat trick in the win, Theo Hill added two goals and the Sting's power play went 4 for 5 in the first of two meetings between the OHL club's this week.
Voit opened the scoring at 1:35 of the first period, his 16th goal of the season. Hill and Ryder McIntyre scored at 6:11 and 7:47 to make it 3-0 Sarnia. Luke Evangelista got London on the board at 9:51 and the Sting led 3-1 after 20 minutes.
Voit scored his second and third goals of the game at 9:47 and 13:22 of the second period, both on the power play. Sarnia led 5-1 heading into the third period.
The two teams traded goals midway through the final frame -- Ruslan Gazizov scored for the Knights at 9:42 and Angus MacDonell brought Sarnia's lead back to four at 9:55. Liam Gilmartin made it 6-3 with a shorthanded goal at 11:13 but that's as close the London Knights would get. Hill scored his second of the game on the power play at 18:03 and Max Namestnikov added another goal with the man advantage at 18:49 to cap off the 8-3 win.
Following his three-point night, Voit moved up to 17th overall in OHL scoring with 18 goals and 43 assists.
"I think a lot of my teammates helped me open up the ice today and sometimes it just comes to you," said Voit. "I think people have been wanting me to shoot a little bit more, because I don't use my shot a lot, but at the same time I love watching my teammates score and I love moving the puck. I would say being a playmaker is more of my game but I'm not afraid to shoot the puck."
Sting goaltender Ben Gaudreau made 25 saves in the win and was also in the middle of a scrum near the end of the game.
"[Teams] are going to want to get in my head, and get in Anson [Thornton's] head -- it's just kind of what happens as a goalie -- and that can be some of their easier ways to do it, is to just run us," said Gaudreau. "It's part of the game, you have to try and keep your cool as much as you can and try to get through it."
Gaudreau complimented McIntyre for getting involved in the scrum.
"I actually live with Ryder, so I guess I won't leave him at the ice anymore," joked Gaudreau. "No, he's awesome. I didn't know he was even on the ice, but he always says 'If somebody does something to you, I'm going to get them, I'm going to get them!' So, he definitely stepped up and it feels awesome."
The win improves Sarnia's record to 22-23-3-1 on the season. The club is back in action on Friday night versus Guelph and Sunday afternoon versus London.
