CENTURY KNIGHTS
An 8-6 win full of milestones gave the London Knights their 40th victory overall on Friday at home against the Saginaw Spirit.
The Knights and Spirit combined for 15 goals in a 12-3 London victory in their last meeting. They were on pace for even more through one period in London’s final regular season game.
The teams fired seven pucks total into the nets at either end of the ice.
The Knights nabbed the first one as Josh Sterk netted his 20th of the season thanks to a three-way passing play with Christian Dvorak and Mitch Marner.
Then Saginaw scored three times in a span of 2:53 on a point shot from Michael Holmes, a rebound goal from Artem Artemov and a low shot from the slot by Blake Clarke and the Spirit led 3-1.
London stayed unfazed and began to chip away.
An Aaron Berisha slap shot from the left side of the Saginaw zone beat David Ovsjannikov and tightened things to 3-2.
Then Max Domi hit the 100-point mark as only Max Domi can do. Domi took a pass, raced by a defender, went in on goal, deked and scored and it was 3-3. The point marks the first time three London Knights (Domi, Dvorak and Marner) had reached the century mark since 2006-07 when Sam Gagner, Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn did it.
Before the end of the period, the Knights got the lead back. On a power play, Matt Rupert scored his 29th from a sharp angle and London led 4-3 through 20 minutes.
The second period went goal free for the first 12 minutes and 19 seconds. That’s when Rupert blasted his 30th of the season through a pile of bodies in front of the Saginaw net and the Knights led 5-3.
Aaron Berisha’s second goal of the game made it 6-3 as he skated in on a partial break and knocked home his own rebound for a 6-3 London lead.
The score stayed that way until the final minute of the third period when Greg DiTomaso picked up his second goal of the season to bring Saginaw to within two goals.
The Knights made a goaltending change just past the halfway mark of the game to give both goalies some work before the playoffs get going.
The third period saw the teams exchange goals in the first six and a half minutes. Max Domi got the Saginaw defenders spinning during a 4 on 4 situation and Chris Martenet poked a puck past Ovsjannikov for a 7-4 Knights’ lead.
DiTomaso scored his second of the game to bring Saginaw back to within two and then Tye Felhaber scored late to tighten the game even more.
Brandon Crawley launched a 180-foot shot from his own end and hit the post on the empty net with just over ten seconds remaining and Jack Hidi knocked the puck in for London’s final goal of the regular season and a final win.
The Knights will open the playoffs on Friday at 7:30 at Budweiser Gardens against either Kitchener or Owen Sound.
For tickets, call 519-681-0800 x1 or head to the Aluminum Associates London Knights Armoury.
Mike Stubbs
NewsTalk 1290 CJBK
Play by Play Voice of the London Knights
