CRAZY EIGHT
It took guts, gumption and a great deal of effort, but the Knights outlasted the Windsor Spitfires 5-3 on Friday to extend their winning streak to eight.
Matt Rupert got things going early as he snapped a puck into the Windsor net at the 3:07 mark of the first period. That extended London’s streak of scoring first to 11 consecutive games, but it didn’t deter Windsor.
Knights’ defenceman, Aiden Jamieson was given what fans felt was a questionable instigator penalty after a fight with Windsor’s Christiano DiGiacinto and led to a man advantage for the Spitfires and a momentum shift as Markus Soberg made nice move into the slot and scored to tie the game. The a goal during a 4 on 4 situation by former Kingston Frontenac, Slater Doggett gave Windsor a 2-1 edge at 13:54.
Max Domi took his team on his shoulders in the second, scoring a natural hat trick.
Domi tied the game just 1:30 into the second period by reading a play at the London line and picking off a Windsor pass. Domi blazed away from anyone who was even thinking about trying to catch him. The Knights’ captain made a move to his right on Alex Fotinos and beat the Windsor goalie high on the backhand.
Then Domi put his team ahead after the Spitfires were given a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. He carried the puck through Soberg and rifled it past Fotinos to make it 3-2.
After a couple of fights, that saw game misconducts, the Knights ended up on the power play and it took Domi all of seven seconds to complete the natural hat trick with a snap shot from the left side and London led 4-2.
Before the end of the period, London added a fifth goal as Michael McCarron and Chris Martenet were freed up on a 2-on-1 by, who else, Max Domi. McCarron used Martenet as a decoy and whipped a shot inside the right post and London went to the dressing room up three goals after two periods.
The third period saw a whole lot of superb stops from rookie goalie, Tyler Parsons. He stopped 23 of 24, including a dazzling skate save off Josh Ho-Sang in front and a huge glove stop on veteran Windsor defenceman, Trevor Murphy.
Doggett slipped his second of the game through a maze of legs on a power play to cut London’s lead to two, but that is as close as Windsor came.
London will head for Guelph on Sunday for a 2 PM game. Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 will be 1:30.
Mike Stubbs
NewsTalk 1290 CJBK
Play by Play Voice of the London Knights
