Welychka leads Knights to 22nd straight win, 9-4 victory over Spitfires

LONDON, Ont. - Brett Welychka's first career hat trick led the London Knights to a 22nd consecutive win on Thursday in a 9-4 victory over the Windsor Spitfires in Ontario Hockey League action.

Welychka, who had eights assists but zero goals in his past dozen games, had London's (30-5-2) first goal 8:12 into the contest after Michael Clarke had opened the scoring for Windsor (14-16-6) 1:37 into the matchup.

London's 22-game streak evens the Barrie Colts from 2009-10 for second all-time in the OHL, with the all-time OHL record of 25 owned by the 1983-84 Kitchener Rangers.

Max Domi scored a pair for the Knights, while Alex Broadhurst was credited with the winner making it 5-2 three minutes into the second period. Matt Rupert, Bo Horvat and Josh Anderson also scored one apiece, while Kevin Raine and Chris Tierney each supplied three assists for London.

Kerby Rychel replied with two goals and one assist for the Spitfires, which have now lost four in a row. Clarke and Adam Bateman also scored for Windsor who are eighth in the Western Conference and just one point up on Saginaw for the last playoff spot.

Knights starting goalie Kevin Bailie was the winner despite being pulled. He allowed four goals on 24 shots through 40 minutes. Jake Patterson was perfect on eight shots in the third.

Jaroslav Pavelka was pulled one minute into the third with just 26 saves on 34 shots for Windsor. Jordan DeKort made 10 saves on 11 shots in 19 minutes of action.

London's power play was 2 for 6, while the Spitfires were 1 for 5.