Brandon Saigeon scored a hat trick for Hamilton as the Bulldogs beat the Windsor Spitfires 6-3 Saturday night at the FirstOntario Centre.
The loss puts the Spits four points behind the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for second place in the OHL West Division, with 73 points.
Mikhail Sergachev's goal at 8:27 in the opening period gave Windsor a 1-0 lead. Marian Studenic tied it up for Hamilton at 12:10 with his 13th goal of the season. Just 20 seconds later, Hamilton took the lead with Saigeon's first goal of the evening. The lead would not last long for the Bulldogs as Windsor's Gabriel Vilardi scored at 13:05, though Hamilton regained the lead once more before the intermission on Saigeon's second goal, a power play tally.
Michael Cramarossa scored at 13:27 in the second period to give the Bulldogs some insurance and a 4-2 lead. The only other goal in the frame came off the stick of Windsor's Graham Knott, his 11th goal of the season.
The Bulldogs put the game away for good in the late minutes of the third period, with Matt Luff extending the Hamilton lead at 17:19, and Saigeon completing the hat trick on an empty-net power play goal with 34 seconds left in the game.
Michael DiPietro only tended goal for Windsor in the first period before being pulled for Mario Culina. Together, they stopped 17 of Hamilton's 23 shots.
The Spitfires travel to Erie Sunday for a key game against the Otters.
