KNIGHTS WIN SERIES OPENER
The London Knights opened the Western Conference Finals with a big 7-4 win over the Otters in Erie on Wednesday night.
Mitch Marner, Christian Dvorak, and Matthew Tkachuk combined for 13 points in the game to lead the way offensively. The big line scored six of the seven Knights’ goals.
Erie scored first as Kyle Maksimovich took a drop pass and wristed a puck high into the Knight net just 1:34 into the game and the crowd at the Erie Insurance Arena got loud.
The cheers turned to jeers pretty quickly as the Otters began to take penalties. Alex DeBrincat lifted a puck over the glass for a delay of game call. 35 seconds of puck movement later, Victor Mete found Christian Dvorak on the left side of the Erie end, he had time to aim and fire, and he beat Otters’ goalie, Devin Williams over the glove toe tie the game 1-1.
Erie’s Erik Cernak was called for high sticking under three minutes later and London went ahead.
Dvorak threaded a cross-crease pass to Matthew Tkachuk, stationed to the right of Williams and he scored his 11th goal of the playoffs on a tap-in and it was 2-1 Knights.
Mitch Marner made it 3-1 on another power play, skating in off the left side boards and snapping a puck high over Willams’ glove.
Then Dvorak picked up his third point of the period as he chased a puck into the Otters’ end, laid a hit on an Erie defender behind the net, chipped the puck to Tkachuk and converted a pass for his second goal of the game and eighth of the post-season. London left period one up 4-1.
The Knights kept the offense coming to start the middle period as the Marner-Dvorak-Tkachuk combo combined on three passes off a rush into Erie territory that ended with Tkachuk’s second goal of the game and a 5-1 London advantage.
Erie sniper Alex DeBrincat scored twice before the end of the second period and cut London’s lead to 5-3. The first came at the end of a scramble in front and the second came in tight on a rebound.
The teams skated hard, back and forth to open the third period and through 12 minutes, kept scoring chances to a minimum. A J.J. Piccinich steal led to some great work down low from Cliff Pu and Robbie Thomas. Thomas found Olli Juolevi coming in from the left point and he blasted a shot past Williams to restore a three goal London lead.
Alex DeBrincat completed the hat trick less than two minutes later, but that is as close as the Otters would come.
The Otters pulled the Williams with three minutes to go and Tkachuk finished his off a hat trick of his own into an empty net after a feed from Dvorak.
Tkachuk ended the game with four points. Marner scored once and added three assists and Dvorak had a five point night with two goals and three assists.
The Knights head home with a 1-0 series lead and will return to London to practice before Game Two back in Erie on Sunday night at 7:00.
Games Three and Four will be played in London on Tuesday, April 26th and Wednesday, April 27th. Both are 7:00pm starts. For tickets, call the OMAC Mortgages London Knights Box Office at 519-681-0800 x 1, visit the Aluminum Associates London Knights Armouries, or go to http://bit.ly/1m2wloY.
