THE CANADIAN PRESS
LONDON, Ont. — Seth Griffith netted his fourth hat trick of the season, and Greg McKegg had two goals Friday as the London Knights beat the Oshawa Generals 7-2 in the Ontario Hockey League action.
Austin Watson earned four assists for London (45-14-1) and has 22 points, including 17 assists, over his past 11 games.
Since joining the Knights from Erie via a trade, McKegg has 38 points in 23 games.
After Griffith completed his hat trick with his 44th into an empty net at 18:41 making it 6-2, Andreas Athanasiou would add additional insurance just seven seconds later.
Early on it was Vladislav Namestnikov’s 21st for the Knights which had opened the scoring late in the first period.
For Oshawa, defenceman Geoffrey Schemitsch, who is a Tampa Bay prospect, netted his first with the Generals (27-28-6) in his 15th game since an early January trade from Owen Sound.
Scott Laughton also scored for Oshawa.
London went 3-for-8 on the power play, while Oshawa was 1-for-6.
Michael Houser’s 43rd win of the campaign places him just three shy of tying the OHL record (Andrew Engelage, Windsor, 08-09) with eight games to play.
Houser made 25 saves while Kevin Bailie stopped 36 of 42 for the Generals.
Combined with Kitchener’s loss to Sudbury on Friday, London needs one more win or one more Kitchener loss to clinch the MidWest Division title.
Saginaw Spirit 8, Erie Otters 7
ERIE, Pa. — A ferocious rally failed to save the Erie Otters.
Carlos Amestoy scored the lone shootout goal as the Saginaw Spirit held off the Erie Otters 8-7.
Stephen Harper’s goal with 44.6 seconds left in the third capped a three-goal rally for Erie, which couldn’t complete the comeback in extra time.
Eric Locke and Brandon Saad — with two short-handed goals — each scored twice for Saginaw (28-26-8), while Amestoy, Josh Shalla and Michael Fine added singles.
Connor Brown had a hat trick for the Otters (10-45-6), and Jake Evans, Kris Grant and Luke Cairns each scored once.
After both teams traded goals, Amestoy and Locke each scored to give Saginaw a 4-2 lead after the first period.
The Otters again matched the Spirit goal for goal in the second, but Shalla’s goal with less than two minutes left gave Saginaw a 7-4 lead heading into the third.
Grant scored at 11:10 to start Erie’s third-period rally, Brown added a goal at 14:56 on the power-play and Harper’s late goal forced extra time.
Clint Windsor allowed seven goals on 41 shots for Saginaw. At the other end of the ice, Ramis Sadikov and Devin Williams combined for 32 saves.
Ottawa 67’s 3, Sarnia Sting 1
SARNIA, Ont. — Shane Prince had a goal and an assist as the Ottawa 67’s snapped a two-game losing skid and beat the Sarnia Sting 3-1.
Sean Monahan scored a power-play goal early in the first for the 67’s (37-16-7), while Tyler Graovac scored on an early second period penalty shot.
The Sting (31-23-7) fell behind 3-0 before a puck bounced off the skate of Charlie Sarault, spoiling Petr Mrazek’s shutout bid.
Mrazek was solid in net making 40 saves, including 17 in the opening period. JP Anderson took the loss allowing three goals on 26 shots.
Plymouth Whalers 3, Brampton Battalion 2 (SO)
PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Alex Aleardi scored the deciding goal in the shootout to lead the Plymouth Whalers over the Brampton Battalion 3-2.
Andy Bathgate and Plymouth captain Beau Schmitz each had a goal and an assist for the West Division-leading Whalers (40-17-3) to back Scott Wedgewood’s 37-save performance.
Ian Watters and Matt MacLeod scored for Brampton (32-20-9), with Watters’ goal late in the second period tying the game at two.
Keegan Wilson made 36 saves for the Battalion.
Wedgewood stopped Mitchell Porowski and Patrik Machac in the shootout before Aleardi and Bathgate beat Wilson.
Guelph Storm 6, Kingston Frontenacs 3
GUELPH, Ont. — Zack Mitchell scored twice and added an assist as the Guelph Storm doubled the Kingston Frontenacs 6-3.
Hunter Garlent, Cody McNaughton and Scott Kosmachuk each added singles as the Storm improved to 26-28-6.
Darcy Greenaway scored twice for Kingston (19-37-6) while Ryan Kujawinksi also scored.
Kingston opened a 2-0 lead in the first before Guelph’s offence exploded with five unanswered goals.
Storm goaltender Garret Sparks made 28 saves for the win, while at the other end Jacob Riley and Igor Bobkov combined for 29 saves
Belleville Bulls 4, Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors 2
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Brady Austin scored the game winner with 2:57 left to play to lead the Belleville Bulls to a 4-2 victory over the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.
Carter Sandlak, Daniil Zharkov and Michael Curtis also scored for Belleville (31-29-1), which jumped into a tie with the Majors (28-26-7) for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining in the regular season.
Mika Partanen scored on a five-on-three power play and added an assist while Trevor Carrick recorded his fourth goal in as many games for Mississauga, which saw its four-game winning streak snapped.
Down 2-1 in the third, Carrick hammered a slapshot past Malcolm Subban to tie the game 2-2 with 5:31 remaining.
Austin fired a wrist shot through traffic for the game winner and Curtis followed with an empty netter.
Subban made 25 saves while Mississauga’s Brandon Maxwell finished with 20.
Both Belleville and Mississauga hold a three-point lead over the eighth-place Oshawa Generals.
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 4, Peterborough Petes 3
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Michael Schumacher scored two goals in the third period to lift the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to a 4-3 win over the Peterborough Petes.
The win allows the Greyhounds to keep pace with the Guelph Storm in the Western Conference playoff race. With both teams winning on Friday, the standings remain identical to the way they entered the day with the Storm holding two games in hand.
The Petes sit one point behind the Oshawa Generals, who also lost, for eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.
Corey Durocher had a goal and an assist for Sault Ste. Marie while Brett Findlay had a pair of assists. Andrew Fritsch also scored for the Greyhounds.
Jack Campbell stopped 27 shots for Sault Ste. Marie (26-30-6).
Andrew Yogan had a goal and two assists to pace the Petes. Alan Quine chipped in with a goal and an assist while JC Campagna also scored for Peterborough.
Mike Morrison stopped 37 shots for the Petes (26-29-7).
Sudbury Wolves 7, Kitchener Rangers 5
SUDBURY, Ont. — Michael Sgarbossa had a five point night, with two goals and three assists to help the Sudbury Wolves to a 8-5 victory Friday over the Kitchener Rangers.
Sgarbossa opened the scoring for the Wolves at 7:19 in the first period with his 42nd goal of the season, and he finished the scoring with a penalty shot at 17:30 of the third.
Joshua Leivo, Derek Schoenmakers, Michael MacDonald, Andrey Kuchin, Nathan Pancel and Justin Sefton also scored for Sudbury (32-23-5).
Tyler Randell and Ryan Murphy each scored twice, and Andrew Crescenzi rounded out the scoring for Kitchener (38-21-2).
Johan Mattsson stopped 32 shots for the Wolves, while John Gibson turned back 41 shots for the Rangers.
