The Sarnia Sting erased a two goal third period deficit versus London Sunday afternoon but the visiting Knights still came out on top, 4-2.
Marko Sikic and Nolan Burke each scored for Sarnia and Knights forward Sean McGurn scored the game-winner on the power play with just 23 seconds on the clock.
London opened the scoring at 13:08 of the first period on a wrist shot from Kirill Steklov, the lone goal of the opening frame. Camaryn Baber found the back of the net at 10:28 of the second period and the Knights led 2-0 after 40 minutes.
Burke got Sarnia on the board on the power play at 2:22 of the third period, his team-leading 28th goal of the season. Sikic knotted the score at twos with his 11th goal at 14:48.
With under two minutes to play, the Sting's Alexis Daviault was sent off for tripping -- McGurn scored the go-ahead goal on ensuing power play. Barber added an empty-netter for London at 19:57 to make it 4-2.
Burke said they didn't get the start they wanted.
"Looked like a little fatigue from Friday night. It was a great way to respond there in the third, get two goals there to tie it up. It shows the character and shows that the boys want to make a good push for this playoff run, and you know that felt like a playoff game. The crowd was fantastic tonight, it was awesome to play in, we take the positives from it, look at the negatives and move on to Tuesday."
Sting goaltender Ben Gaudreau turned away 31 shots in the loss and was named the game's first star. Owen Willmore stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced in London's goal and was named the game's second star -- Knights backup Owen Flores surrendered one goal on one shot in just under four minutes of action in the third period.
"I think we just got to start putting pucks on net," said Sting defenceman Ryan Mast. "Good things always happen when you get traffic and put pucks on net, especially on, I think this might have been this goalie's first or second career start, so we just got to get pucks on net and good things will happen."
The loss drops the Sting to 22-25-3-1 on the season. Sarnia is back in action Tuesday night when the club hosts Windsor on CHOK (103.9 FM/1070 AM).
With files from Stephanie Chaves
