The Sarnia Sting (16-26-4-1) came up just short in a hard-fought 3-2 shootout loss to the visiting Windsor Spitfires (28-10-5-0) on Sunday.
Sting goalie Ben Gaudreau had a great game with 36 saves. Xavier Medina turned aside 39 of 41 shots faced in the Windsor crease.
The Spitfires led 1-0 after one and pulled ahead 2-0 just two minutes into the second on goals from Connor Corcoran and Wyatt Johnston.
Nolan DeGurse, who was called up from the Sarnia Legionnaires, scored his first of the season with just under three minutes left in the second.
Kelton Hatcher and Curtis Douglas dropped the gloves at the end of the second which seemed to give the Sting some momentum.
Ryan Roth tied the contest with six minutes remaining in the third to tie the game 2-2 and send it to the extra frame.
After a scoreless overtime, the teams played in a seven-round shootout.
Roth scored in the shootout for the Sting, while Daniel D'Amico and Will Cuylie replied for Windsor.
DeGurse said playing his first game of the season with the Sting was a great experience. "It was great to be up here, I enjoyed every second. The teammates were great to me, the coaching staff was great to me so it was really enjoyable. It was good to get the point in the shootout but it would have been nice to get two.
That was a big fight (from Hatcher), it got us momentum that we carried over into the third pretty well. The message was to just keep doing what we were doing and good things will happen."
Sarnia is last place in the OHL's Western Conference with 37 points, 11 back of Erie for the final playoff berth.
The Sting are back in action on Friday night at home to Saginaw on CHOK.