A back-and-forth game ended in a third straight win for the Trenton Golden Hawks on Sunday night.
The Hawks beat the Pickering Panthers 7-4 to keep pace with the Stouffville Spirit for top spot in the East Conference.
Jake Mallory put Pickering up one, before the Hawks secured a milestone moment.
Taeo Artichuk, the Hawks leading scorer, set up Beckett Ewart at the 12-minute mark to even the score, earning his franchise-record 178th point to pass David Fournier.
A scoring-filled second period featured seven goals and a couple of canceled leads for the Panthers.
Trenton managed to wipe out a 3-1 lead staked by Pickering’s Sam Ethier and Matt Indovina, a former Hawk, with markers from Jaxon Pierce and Ewart.
Pickering went ahead again quickly when Peter Smith buried a pass across the seam to chase Shingles from the cage in favour of Hayden Jeffery, but the Hawks had an answer for that too, with Joey Brehmer coming back and beating Sciere on a long shot from the right wing boards.
Trenton then wrestled the lead away for the first time in the game on Artichuk’s team-leading 22nd of the season.
Jeffery’s steady play kept the Hawks above water in the third, allowing Jack Ziliotto and Duncan Schneider to put the finishing touches on the win with empty-netters.
Artichuk and Ewart finished with three-point nights and Jeffery stopped all 16 shots in relief for the win, Trenton’s 18th of the season.
The Hawks are home to face the St. Michael’s Buzzers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
