Toffoli running away in scoring race

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Tyler Toffoli is doing his best to leave everyone behind him in the league scoring race.

Toffoli scored once and set up another as the Ottawa 67's defeated the visiting Erie Otters 6-1 in Ontario Hockey League action.

The 19-year-old winger has scored in five straight games and the two points Sunday gives him a league-leading 44 goals and 87 points in 53 games.

He currently has four more goals than Seth Griffith of the London Knights, who sits second in scoring, and a nine-point lead over Michael Sgarbossa of the Sudbury Wolves, who is second in overall points.

Ryan Van Stralen, Shane Prince, Dalton Smith, Nicholas Foglia and Cody Ceci also scored for the 67's (35-15-6), who now sit one point behind the Brampton Battalion for top spot in the Eastern Conference, while Michal Cajkovsky and Remy Giftopoulos chipped in with two assists each.

Jake Evans scored the lone goal for the Otters (8-42-5), who sit last in league standings, as Adam Pelech picked up the assist.

Michael Nishi made 36 saves for the win, and the game's first star, while Devin Williams turned away 41 shots in defeat.

Ottawa went 0 for 1 on the power play as Erie failed to score on nine opportunities with the man advantage.

Elsewhere in the OHL, it was: Brampton 5, Sudbury 4 (OT); London 5, Kitchener 1; and Saginaw 4, Owen Sound 2.

At Ottawa, the 67's jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period.

Foglia opened the scoring at 7:08, Ceci followed him up with a goal at 11:40 and 30 seconds later Prince added another.

Evans put Erie on the board with a goal at 10:21 of the second period but Smith regained Ottawa's three-goal advantage by scoring with 53 seconds remaining in the period.

Toffoli scored shorthanded 2:15 into the third and Van Stralen added one more at 14:34

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Battalion 5 Wolves 4 (OT)

At Brampton, Ont., Mitchell Porowski scored the winning goal on a penalty shot with 58 seconds remaining in overtime as the Battalion (30-18-9) picked up their third straight win by edging Sudbury (30-20-5).

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Knights 5 Rangers 1

At London, Ont., Brett Welychka scored twice while twin brothers Matt and Ryan Rupert chipped in with two assists each as the Knights (42-12-1) beat Kitchener (36-17-2), who have now dropped three games in a row.

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Spirit 4 Attack 2

At Saginaw, Mich., Clint Windsor stopped 31-of-33 shots, earning the game's first star, and Josh Shalla scored a goal in his eighth straight game as the Spirit (27-23-7) snapped Owen Sound's (28-22-7) six-game winning streak.