B’s end losing slide

The visiting Welland Jr. Canadians defeated the Buffalo Regals 5-2 Tuesday night to within one point of fifth place in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference.

Matt Hobbs, power play; Matthew Giannini, shorthanded; Brendan Rylott, Tanner McEachern and Alexandar Dameski, empty net; scored for the Jr. Canadians.

Ryan Kelly and Cameron Clark replied for the Regals, who lost their 18th game in a row and dropped to 1-31-0-3 in league play.

The Jr. Canadians were outshot 41-36 and finished 1-for-1 on the power play. The Regals went 0-for-5 with a man advantage.

Welland improved to 13-18-3-2 to move within one point of the idle Thorold Blackhawks, 13-153-3, for fifth place in the conference.

Thorold, which hosts the second-place Ancaster Avalanche, 26-7-1-0, in a 7:07 p.m. faceoff Thursday, has two games in hand on Welland.

With the whistle-to-whistle win, the Jr. Canadians slammed the brakes on a three-game losing slide and improved to 4-0 in head-to-head play versus Buffalo.

Welland leads the season series against the junior B league’s only U.S. team eight points to one. The Regals earned a consolation point in a 3-2 overtime loss at home Nov. 7.

Buffalo visits the St. Catharines Falcons Friday at 7 p.m. and Welland is home to the Caledonia Corvairs Sunday at 7:05 p.m.

The Regals trail the season series with the Falcons three games to none, six points to one, and the Jr. Canadians are winless in four starts against the four-time defending conference champion Corvairs.