Troops find early hole too deep
LONDON, Ont. – Winning on the London Knights’ home ice is difficult enough without a faltering first period, as the Brampton Battalion was reminded in a 4-3 Ontario Hockey League loss Friday night.
“Our start wasn’t very good, and they really jumped on us,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler.
“It’s almost like we bought tickets to watch the game. We talked to the guys after the first period to correct it and we were a little better in the second, but not much. We had a little life in the third, but you can’t play one period and win a game, although we almost did that.”
The Knights, ahead 3-0 by 13:12 into the game, withstood a late rally for their 10th straight victory over the Battalion and sixth in a row at the John Labatt Centre. The Troops, who host the Barrie Colts at 2 p.m. Sunday, haven’t beaten London since a 6-0 home-ice win Sept. 20, 2002.
Patrick Killeen relieved starting goaltender Bryan Pitton after Justin Taylor tipped Steven Tarasuk’s point shot under Pitton’s left pad for the third goal. Killeen, who allowed one goal on 28 shots, made several spectacular saves on point-blank scoring chances the rest of the way. Pitton faced eight shots.
“When you come into that situation, the only thing you can hope is that the guys get going offensively and come back and try to get a win,” said Killeen.
“The momentum was all with them, and I needed to do what I could to swing it to our side. They were playing to my strengths. All I had to do was get my body in the way. I was just sliding into the shots, and they were hitting me.”
Said Butler: “Patrick was really good. I didn’t think Bryan had much of a chance on the first two goals, but I’m sure he’d like to have that third one back. But Patrick came in and gave us a chance to win, and that’s all we can ask of him.”
Despite his sparkling showing, Killeen took the loss when the Battalion scored enough goals to make the winner of the only goal he allowed, Jadran Beljo’s second of the game, on the power play at 5:06 of the second period. It was Killeen’s first loss in seven decisions since a 5-3 road setback Nov. 15 to the Windsor Spitfires.
Butler said the game came down to specialty teams. The Knights, 1-for-6 with the man advantage, scored shorthanded in the first period and held the Troops to one power-play goal in eight opportunities, including fending them off during extended power-play time over the second half of the third period.
“They scored a shorthanded goal, and we didn’t generate much from the number of power plays we had. But we had plenty of chances. We just couldn’t finish. We didn’t get enough pucks to the net.”
Butler said that, with the return to the lineup of Cory Emmerton and Bobby Sanguinetti in a 5-3 win Thursday night over the visiting Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, the Troops need work on their power play.
“Cory hasn’t been here much, and Bobby’s been away. We just need to get everybody back in form.”
