Rickard Hugg scored a hat trick as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Sarnia Sting 4-3 Saturday night at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
The Sting are now at the .500 mark in the OHL West Division standings, with a 3-3 record. They sit in third place.
Hugg scored his first goal of the game at just 1:21 into the opening period. The score remained 1-0 Kitchener after the first 20 minutes.
Sarnia tied the game 12 seconds into the second frame when Hugo Leufvenius scored his first of the season. Jacob Perreault's goal over five minutes later put the Sting ahead 2-1. Hugg responded at 11:23 with his second goal of the contest, tying the game at two-all, but Ryan McGregor's goal shortly after gave the Sting the lead once more. Hugg completed the hat trick later in the stanza for a 3-3 score after two periods of play.
The tie was broken at 6:31 of the third period, when the Rangers' Joseph Garreffa scored on the power play.
Perreault's goal was his fourth of the season. The rookie said the team played hard. "The effort was there. I think the wins will come along the way."
On his prolific start to the season Perreault credits his line mates. "My teammates have given me a lot of good passes. I just try to go the areas where I can shoot and get a good shot off and score a goal."
Luke Richardson stopped 23 shots in goal for Kitchener. Ethan Langevin took the loss on goal for Sarnia, with 16 saves out of 20 tries.
The Sting next travel to London on Friday night to take on the Knights.