Jesse Drydak scored the winning goal Saturday as the Sarnia Legionnaires dumped the Leamington Flyers 4-2.

The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Legion crew. At the same time, it moved eighth place Sarnia within a scant two points of seventh ranked Leamington in the tough Western Ontario Hockey Conference.

Drydak, who has scored two goals in his last two games, said being a healthy scratch last week in Guelph was a wakeup call that he needed.

"Absolutely it motivated me,” the speedy right-winger said afterward. “You never want to see that, but it's what I needed and what the team needed.”

Drydak broke up a 2-2 tie early in the third period when he chipped in a power-play goal from the side of the net. Tanner Tomlinson and Shawn Waldie picked up assists on what was Drydak's eighth of the year.

Coach Jeff Perry praised Drydak afterward, saying, “We know Jesse can be a top-end player in this league when he gets back to basics. He did that tonight.”

Chase Clark got an insurance marker, also on the power-play, with under five minutes left when he poked in a loose puck from the lip of the crease. Captain Tyler Cicchini and Drydak drew assists on what went into the books as Clark's sixth of the season and 49^th of his career.

Improvising coach

Perry was forced to throw together a patch-work defence after most of his rearguards were lost to him. In fact, no less than four D-men were out of the lineup when the final whistle sounded.

Tanner Ferguson missed the game with an injury, Steve Farlow was away due to illness and Josh Chapman had been called up by the Sarnia Sting of the OHL.

To make matters worse, Jeff Paulley was injured when he was checked from behind into the boards early in the third period.

Perry responded by putting forward Jan Rodziewicz back on the blueline. The big Polish import played well on the backend, along with fellow forwards Tyler Annett and Brent Sauve, who have been forced to play defence for weeks now.

• Braden Kavaratzis scored his first goal as a Legionnaire to tie the game in the first period. Ilya Arkalov and Andy Sokol got assists.

• Sokol gave Sarnia a 2-1 lead with a nifty play in the second frame. Sokol, who was killing a penalty, stole the puck from Leamington netminder Colin Greeley and scored his fourth of the year into an open net. It was an unassisted effort.

• Drydak was first star and Sokol second star.

• Owen Rogers did not figure in the scoring but he appeared to be on the ice all night, skating miles for the winners.