The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds have narrowed the gap against the first-place London Knights.
Cole McKay scored a hat trick in the Hounds' 6-3 win over the Knights Sunday afternoon at GFL Memorial Gardens. The London loss pulls second-place Sault Ste. Marie to within four points in the OHL Western Conference standings.
It didn't take long for the Hounds to come out swinging. Jaromir Pytlik scored the first goal just 21 seconds into the opening period. London outshot the home team in the first frame, though, with 11 shots on goal to Sault Ste. Marie's six.
McKay's first goal of the game came at 4:14 of the second period, doubling the Hounds' lead to 2-0 before Adam Boqvist scored to put the Knights on the board. McKay then scored back-to-back and completed his hat trick with goals scored in just over three minutes' time. Liam Foudy put one in for London soon after, but the second-intermission score was 4-2 in favour of Sault Ste. Marie.
Morgan Frost's goal at 11:19 of the third period gave Sault Ste. Marie a 5-2 lead, but Kevin Hancock responded for the Knights soon after with his 41st goal of the season. Barrett Hayton sealed the win for the Greyhounds with another power-play score.
Joseph Raaymakers stopped 21 shots in the loss for London. Matthew Villalta had 28 saves for the Hounds.
The Knights return to Budweiser Gardens Wednesday night when they host the Guelph Storm.