A spirited third period comeback attempt fell just short for the Sarnia Sting Thursday night.

The London Knights built up a 4-0 lead and then hung on to edge the Sting 4-3 before 3,334 fans at the newly-named RBC Centre.

The loss dropped Sarnia’s record to 1-3-1-0 in the Ontario Hockey League while London improved to 3-1-0-0.

The Knights dominated the opening period when they jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead. A shorthanded goal 14 minutes into period two put London up 4-0.

But the Sting managed to score one goal before the second period ended and by the 11-minute mark of the third period had closed the gap to 4-3. They had a  couple of great chances to tie the game in the final minute, including a shot by Kale Kerbashian that went off the goalpost.

Sting head coach Dave MacQueen liked the way his team responded in the third period when they outshot London 19-6.

“I liked the way we played the last eight minutes of the second period while in the third period we had lots of jump and energy.  We generated some  good scoring chances and almost tied the game in the last minute with a shot off the post. We stayed on course.”

MacQueen didn’t like the way his team started the game.

“London scored two goals on two shots to start the game. You can’t have that at this level, especially against good teams like London. We also gave up four fifth shorthanded goal in five games. It’s unacceptable. You aren’t going to win many games allowing that many shorthanded goals. We have to be a little more responsible on the power play.”

The game was just over three minutes old when Nazem Kadri of the Knights, just back from the Toronto Maple Leafs, opened the scoring when his low wrist shot went between the legs of Sting goalie Jesse Raymond.

Steve Tarasuk made it 2-0 at 8:28 when his shot from the right point appeared to change directions on the way into the net. A power play goal at 18:33 on the power play by Leigh Salters had the Knights in front 3-0.

What turned out to be the winning goal for London was that dreaded shorthanded marker. The Sting coughed up the puck at the Knights blueline. One pass sprung Zac Rinaldo into the clear and he made a nice deke to slide the puck past Raymond from close range.

The Sting, who had just 10 shots in almost two periods, finally solved rookie Knights goalie Michael Houser on a power play at 18:24 when Ben O’Quinn fired a high shot from a sharp angle that found the back of the net. It was O’Quinn’s third goal of the season.

The Sting carried the play to start the third period and were rewarded with their second goal at 6:07 when rookie Zack MacQueen had an open net staring him in the face and he made no mistake.

For MacQueen, the son of the head coach, it was his first career OHL goal.

“It feels good, but it would have been nice if we got the win,” said the young MacQueen, who didn’t remember his first career game when he was knocked out of the game after being checked head-first into the boards.

 “Joe Rogalski made a nice play to get the puck to the net. I went hard to the net and there was the puck right in front with an open net. I was pretty surprised to see that much net and I just popped it in.”

MacQueen says playing for his dad is nice.

“It’s great and a lot of fun to be able to share this experience with him. All the guys have been great and there’s been no problems. I’m sure I’m going to hear it from players on the other teams as the season goes along.”

Coach MacQueen says he doesn’t treat his son any differently than any other player.

“When I saw the puck go in I said it was 4-2 now. When the game is on he’s just another player. Obviously it’s a big thing  and is for anybody to get their first goal. He went to the net hard and got rewarded.”

The goal seemed to put London back on their heels. The Knights took three straight penalties and the Sting pulled to within a goal at 10:57 with their second power play of the game. Miroslav Preisinger notched his first of the year deflecting home a point drive from Rogalski.

With just under five minutes remaining, Sting rookie Brandon Francisco was knocked out of the game when he took what appeared to be a head check from Rinaldo. Francisco had to be helped off the ice, bleeding from the head and did not return.

“I haven’t watched the video yet  so I can’t really comment,” said coach MacQueen. “I talked to the refs after the game. They saw what they saw and we saw what we saw. It is what it is.”

With just over a minute remaining Steven Reese had his point blank shot stopped by Houser. After a couple of scrambles around the London goal, Kerbashian rattled his low shot off the post with 30 seconds left.

Sarnia finished with a 31-29 edge in shots on goal.

The Sting received some good news Thursday when they learned overage goalie Adam Courchaine is returning to the Sting from Providence of the American Hockey League.

“He will be at practice on Friday,” said MacQueen. “It’s pretty obvious our young guys have struggled at times. A young team like ours needs above average goaltending to be competitive.”

The Sting resume action Saturday night in Saginaw. Their next home game is Oct. 9 against Belleville.

• Sarnia native Kyle Neuber played his first game of the season for the Sting. He missed all of training camp and pre-season with a hand injury. With Courchaine returning, it gives the Sting four overagers along with Reese and captain Jordan Hill.

• MacQueen says he doesn’t plan any roster moves right way. He says he can carry four overagers right up to the trade deadline if he wishes.

• Rogalski had two assists.

• Forward Brett Appio and defenceman Daniel Broussard remain sidelined with injuries while Ted Brithen was a healthy scratch