The St. Thomas Stars grabbed a hard-earned point Friday night at the Joe Thornton Community Centre, erasing a 4-1 LaSalle lead midway through the contest only to come up short in a 5-4 OT loss.
It was a shaky start for the Stars with Tanner Winegard lifting LaSalle into a 1-0 lead less than two minutes after the opening puck drop.
Liam Kidder did manage to pull St. Thomas even before the four-minute mark only to have the Vipers embark on a three-goal run with Nic Pavia netting a pair and Andrew Kotevski finding the mark.
The visitors seemed to have built themselves a comfortable cushion with 30 minutes to play.
However Tristen Roberts with his 10th of the season and a short-handed effort from Maddox Amaral powered St. Thomas to within a goal with a period to play.
With the clock ticking down toward the final buzzer, Mathieu Paris knotted the game on a power-play.
Four minutes into OT, Spencer Lecot bagged the winner to send LaSalle home with the full points.
Oliver Bonk had a memorable outing for the Stars, contributing four assists and giving him 22 points in 19 games so far.
St. Thomas native Owen Willmore was in net for the loss.
The Stars are now two points ahead of eighth-place Strathroy who were blanked 4-0 Wednesday in London.
St. Thomas returns to action Wednesday when they get a shot at the Nationals in London. myFM will have all of the action with Chris Soares beginning at 6:50 p.m.
