Kyle Fisher scored twice and added an assist as the Chatham Maroons beat the Leamington Flyers 6-4 Sunday night at Memorial Arena.
The Maroons increased their point total to 30 in the GOJHL Western Conference, and are in fifth place. The Flyers are in second with 45 points, six behind the London Nationals.
The game was the first for Chatham since blowing a 6-1 lead against the Flyers Thursday and walking away with a 7-6 overtime loss. Maroons head coach Tyler Roeszler said they were careful not to repeat the mistakes made in that contest.
"We didn't take penalties down the stretch, and I think we learned from Thursday's game that we just had to finish the job, and I think this group's starting to come in terms of understanding how we need to play to close out games."
Roeszler still believed Chatham was the better team the whole weekend against Leamington.
"That was the goal going into it. Going down there, it's a tough place to play, so if we could take three [points], that would be a successful weekend," said Roeszler. "We've played them three times in the last two weeks, and outplayed them every time."
Ashton Jones was the first scorer for the Maroons, finding the net at 12:27 of the opening period to put Chatham on the board 1-0. Leamington evened the score at one-all with a power-play goal from Adam Jeffery, scored with exactly a minute left in the frame.
Goals were exchanged again in the middle period. Evan Wells put the Maroons back in the lead with a power-play goal at 13:01, but it was 47 seconds before the Flyers' Thomas Michaud tied the game again, this time on a short-handed goal.
Chatham broke the game open in the final stanza, with two goals in the first seven minutes. Kyle Fisher's first goal was followed exactly a minute later by one from Tate Bowden. Leamington clawed back into it with back-to-back goals of its own, from Thomas Michaud and Dylan Montie, who scored short-handed. Fisher scored his second goal at 14:39, which turned out to be the game-winner. Brett Fisher added an insurance goal less than two minutes afterwards.
Kevin Linker stopped 34 shots out of 38 attempts between the pipes for the Maroons. Ryan Polidori had 27 saves for the Flyers.
It was also Teddy Bear and Toys Night at Memorial Arena, during which fans were asked to bring an unwrapped toy to the Chatham Goodfellows' No Child Without a Christmas program.
The Maroons head to Komoka on Saturday night, while Leamington hosts Strathroy on Thursday.