Sting forward Zach Filak had two goals, an assist and a fighting major in Sarnia's 4-3 win over the visiting Windsor Spitfires Tuesday night.
Nolan Dann and Ethan Ritchie also scored for the Sting, and goaltender Anson Thornton made 37 saves and was named the game's first star.
Windsor opened the scoring at 1:34 of the first period on a goal from Ethan Miedema. The lead was short-lived as Ritchie tied the game at ones at 2:09. Filak scored an unassisted goal at 12:02, after creating a turnover in his own end, and Sarnia led 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Filak scored his second goal at 7:07 on the power play -- the rookie has eight goals on the season including seven this month. The Spitfires responded with their own power play goal at 8:17 before Dann restored Sarnia's two-goal lead at 10:31. The Sting led 4-2 heading into the third period.
Windsor's Will Cuylle scored at 10:48 of the final frame, cutting Sarnia's lead to one, but that's as close as the Spits would get. Thornton turned away seven shots over the final nine minutes to preserve the 4-3 win.
"The boys wanted this game pretty bad," said Thornton. "We need to get these two points, just coming in and working hard -- we got the two points and it was great for us."
One of Thornton's 37 saves came off a penalty shot from Wyatt Johnson at 18:14 of the second period, which kept the game at 4-2 at the time.
"I just like to stay calm on penalty shots. He was coming down, he didn't really deke or anything, so I just held my ground and made the pad save."
Filak, who picked up a Gordie Howe hat trick in the game, was named the second star. He talked about his new-found confidence during the postgame press conference.
"I feel like whenever I get the puck on my stick, I feel like I can shoot it all the time. When I get the puck in a scoring chance area, I feel like I have a pretty good chance to score. It's been really just my confidence."
The Sting wrap up an eight game home stand Wednesday night versus the Soo Greyhounds.
"They're a really fast team," said Filak. "They compete hard, they hit hard, they play off of their systems a lot and they stick to it. We really need these points, we're going to be playing desperate for them. We can't let back, we can't hold back, we just have to go and try and get these two points."
Coverage on CHOK (1070 a.m./103.9 FM) begins at 6:30 p.m.
