In spite of a nearly three-to-one advantage in shots, the St. Thomas Stars were taken to OT Friday night before eking out a 3-2 win over cellar-dwelling Sarnia at the Joe Thornton Community Centre.
Nevertheless, the Stars extended their late-season winning streak to four games while Sarnia has gone nine straight without a win.
Maddox Amaral with his 13th of the season netted the only goal of the opening period.
Braydon Degelas tied it up before the five-minute mark of the second frame. Mathieu Paris restored the Stars’ lead with a short-handed goal less than two minutes before the second intermission.
Jaxon Priddle sent the game into overtime with a goal early in the third period.
Sarnia had an opportunity to steal the win two minutes into OT when Matthew Balloch was awarded a penalty shot only to have Stars’ netminder Tyler Roberts prevail.
Thirty seconds later Nick Houben clinched the win for St. Thomas with his 11th marker of the campaign.
The Stars outshot Sarnia 59-21, including 26-5 in the third period, a tribute to netminder Brenden Stroble, who started the season with the Chatham Maroons.
St. Thomas now has a five-point cushion over eighth-place Strathroy, with a pair of games in hand.
The Stars are off until Wednesday when they travel to LaSalle to play the fifth-place Vipers. myFM will have all the action with Chris Soares beginning at 6:50 p.m.
