The Sarnia Sting (37-18-5-2) edged the Windsor Spitfires 2-1 in a tight defensive battle before a crowd of 4,225 at the SSEC Friday night.
The win moves the Sting to 81 points on the season, three points up on Windsor (36-19-6-0) for first place in the OHL's West Division and second place in the Western Conference.
Nikita Korostelev opened the scoring for the Sting 12:50 into the opening period on a tic tac toe passing play set up by Anthony Salinitri and Travis Konecny.
Sting Captain Sam Studnicka's powerplay goal in the second period proved to be the game winner, with Korostelev and Josh Jacobs picking up the helpers. Windsor's Christian Fischer made the game interesting with a goal four minutes later but that's as close at the Spitfires would come.
The game got chippy early in the third period when Sting defenceman Kevin Spinozzi fought Cristiano DiGiacinto.
Sting goalie Charlie Graham made 27 saves on 28 shots while Mario Culina stopped 26 of 28 Sting shots.
The Sting have been on a hot streak as of late with wins in seven of 10 games. Sarnia has defeated Windsor in five of six meetings this season.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday night for a rematch in Windsor on CHOK.
