The St. Thomas powerplay again drew blanks for the second straight game, missing on five opportunities as the Leamington Flyers edged the Stars 4-3 Friday night at the Joe Thornton Community Centre.
Coincidently, the Stars have yet to beat the Flyers in five outings this season, although three of them have been one-goal decisions.
Mathieu Paris with his 16th of the season gave St. Thomas an early lead midway through the opening frame only to have Koen Taves with his first goal as a Flyer knot it before the end of the period.
Blake McNally’s goal in the middle stanza allowed Leamington to nurse a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes.
Two minutes into the period Maddox Amaral again pulled St. Thomas even.
That was nullified when Taves and Darby Lemieux found the mark in a two-minute span to put the Flyers in the driver’s seat for good.
Tristen Roberts’ goal with six minutes remaining proved too little, too late.
Tyler Roberts got his first start in net for the Stars in almost three weeks, facing 34 shots.
St. Thomas remains in seventh spot, a point ahead of the Strathroy Rockets with both teams in action Saturday night.
The Stars are in Komoka to face the Kings. myFm will have all the action with Chris Soares beginning at 7:05.
The Rockets meantime host the LaSalle Vipers in a 7:30 start.
