The Sarnia Sting lost 7-5 to the London Knights on Friday night.
The London Knights led by five goals in the second period and held on for a win over the Sting.
Friday’s game was the first for the Sting since returning from their two-week holiday break.
“Tough start,” said Sting associate head coach Brad Staubitz. “It’s obvious we can’t have starts like that. Great second half of the game, I really like the way we played.”
The Sting started to come back with power-play goals from Marcus Limpar-Lantz and Nolan Burke, edging the Knight’s lead 5-2.
Burke scored the Sting’s third goal in th third period, but the Knights scored another goal less than a minute after for a 7-3 lead.
“Down five nothing is hard,” said Staubitz. “It’s hard on the guys, it’s hard on the morale but they did what they needed to do claw back into it, and give themselves a chance to get into a competitive game.”
The Knights have won five games in a row and are in first place in the OHL’s Midwest Division.
“London is an opportunistic team,” said Staubitz. “They thrive on turnovers.”
The Sting will be looking for redemption Saturday when they visit Budweiser Gardens in London and play the Knights at 4 p.m. to complete the annual New Year’s home-and-home series.
You can catch the pregame show on CHOK (1070AM/103.9FM) at 3:30. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m.