BRAMPTON, Ont. – Michael Santini scored three goals to pace the Brampton Battalion to a 6-1 victory Sunday over the Sarnia Sting, sending the Troops to the Ontario Hockey League’s Christmas break on a season-high six-game winning streak.

Zach Bell, Barclay Goodrow and Jordan Auld also scored for the Battalion, which boasts a won-lost-extended record of 20-10-4 for 44 points atop the Central Division, second in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Matej Machovsky faced 20 shots before a crowd of 1,675.

The Ottawa 67’s reclaimed the conference lead with a 5-3 road win Sunday night over the Oshawa Generals. Ottawa is 20-9-5 for 45 points in the East Division.

Charles Sarault scored for Sarnia, while goaltender Brandon Hope made 39 saves. The Sting, which dressed 18, two below the limit, because of injuries and national team commitments, is 19-11-5 for 43 points, second in the West Division.

“Our guys have worked really hard, and I’m really happy going into Christmas,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler, whose charges last lost in a 4-0 setback Dec. 2 to the host Sudbury Wolves. “Now we can enjoy Christmas.”

Added Butler: “In fairness to the Sarnia team today, they’re missing some key guys and they were playing their third game in three days. Unfortunately, in this league that’s what happens in the schedule sometimes.”

Butler said he was pleased for Santini, “a great kid who works hard all the time,” after he recorded his second three-goal game in the OHL. It came 52 weeks to the day after the first, accomplished in a 7-4 home-ice win over Sudbury last Dec. 19.

“It’s great to see him get some good results,” Butler said of Santini.

Referees Korey Bannerman and Ben Wilson seemed determined to exhaust the grease on the hinges of the door to the home penalty box, handing Sarnia 12 power-play opportunities to the Troops’ three, but Butler said good defensive play kept the Sting to one man-advantage goal.

“You just have to compete hard and play good systems. At the end of the day, you can’t give teams that many power plays.”

Santini completed the scoring with his fourth goal in two games at 13:09 of the third period, beating Hope over the blocker with a wrist shot from the slot. Brandon Robinson earned the lone assist.

Machovsky made what may have been his best saves when he stopped Reid Boucher on a breakaway as well as the subsequent rebound chance by Jack Nevins at 5:48 of the frame. Machovsky used his blocker against the first shot and denied Nevins with the glove.

Bell opened the scoring at 1:03 of the first period on a right-point shot off a faceoff win by Sam Carrick. Defenceman Bell fired a quick wrister that deflected off Sarault’s back between Hope’s legs.

Goodrow scored shorthanded at 11:30, breaking in on a two-on-one rush with Marcus McIvor, fresh out of the penalty box. Goodrow snapped a shot from the left wing and circled the Sarnia net before lifting the rebound over the sprawled Hope and a defender.

With the teams skating four a side, Santini made it 3-0 at 17:48 off a two-on-one dash with Jamie Lewis. Santini capitalized on the rebound in the slot after Lewis took a pass on the left wing from Santini and snapped a quick shot that Hope kicked out with his right pad.

The Battalion outshot Sarnia 14-8 in the period but was called upon to kill a pair of two-man disadvantages lasting 1:12 and 1:37.

Sarault scored on the power play at 6:35 of the second period, redirecting a Craig Duininck point shot in the goalmouth, but Auld responded to make it 4-1 at 12:22.

Defenceman Auld dumped the puck from the centre-ice line at the right-wing boards, but the rubber hit defender Jack Kuzmyk’s left glove high in the Sarnia zone and caught Hope moving the wrong way, dipping under his catching glove.

Santini struck at 18:39, slipping the rebound of Mitchell Porowski’s shot under Hope from the deep slot. Lewis earned his second assist of the game on the play.

The Battalion scratched Adam Lloyd, Brenden Miller, Matt MacLeod and Ian Watters. Sarnia was without Nail Yakupov, Ryan Kujawinski, Brett Ritchie, Alex Basso, Connor Murphy, Nickolas Latta, Ludvig Rensfeldt and Alex Galchenyuk.

The Battalion returns to action when it visits the Barrie Colts at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 29.

BATTALION NOTEBOOK: The Battalion went 0-for-3 on the power play ... The Battalion, which has won three consecutive home games, is 10-5-2 at the Powerade Centre, while Sarnia, which fell 5-3 to the host Erie Otters on Saturday night, is 8-7-1 on the road. The Troops’ last home-ice loss was a 2-1 decision via shootout against the Kitchener Rangers on Dec. 1 ... The Battalion is 4-4-3 against Western Conference opponents and 2-2-2 against the West Division ... Santini, who has lost 18 games to two injuries, scored his first goal of the season Friday night to give the Troops a 2-1 overtime win at Ottawa ... Opening line combinations included Carrick centring left winger Brett Mackie and right winger Goodrow, Patrik Machac pivoting left winger Robinson and right winger Philip Lane and Lewis skating between left winger Porowski and right winger Santini. Connor Jarvis centred left winger Alex O’Neil and Andreas Tsogkas on right wing ... Imports Machovsky and Machac were to fly home to the Czech Republic on Sunday night ... Yakupov and Rensfeldt are with the Russian and Swedish teams respectively preparing for the World Junior Championship to be held at Edmonton and Calgary starting Dec. 26, while Latta was with the host team in the world juniors B pool at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, which ended Saturday. Latta had three goals and one assist for four points for Germany, which won its five games and has been promoted to the 2013 A pool, to be played at Ufa, Russia ... O’Neil and Justice Dundas received major penalties for a third-period fight. O’Neil also was assessed a minor for a check to the head ... The Battalion swept the teams’ season series, having earned a 4-3 victory via shootout at Sarnia on Sept. 30.