Full Team Effort Results in 4-1 Win Over Knights
The London Knights set up camp in Peterborough on Thursday night for the Petes’ final game against a Western Conference opponent this season. The game started with a moving Cystic Fibrosis ceremony featuring Matt Mancina and former Petes goalies Andrew D’Agostini (Saves 4 CF founder) and Michael Giugovaz (current Knights starter). Peterborough moved to 5-0 on the season with a crowd of 3000+ in the building, entertaining fans with a 4-1 win.
Both Mancina and Giugovaz were out to impress in the first period, and impress they did with big saves at both ends of the rink. The Peterborough protector was the busier of the two in the opening twenty, turning aside 13 shots in the frame.
For a pleasant change of pace, the Petes penalty killing unit were the aggressors in the late stages of the first period, generating two odd-man rushes and drawing a powerplay of their own as the scoreless first period expired. The shots were 13-8 in Londons’s favour when all was said and done in the opening stanza.
Both teams had ample opportunities in the second period, particularly with the man advantage. London put one past Mancina a few minutes into P2, but the referees opted to keep the game scoreless, waving off the goal as a result of a high stick.
Special teams would ultimately provide the first goal of the game, as Michael Clarke created one of many shorthanded odd-man rushes before feeding Josh Maguire to open the scoring at 8:19 of the second.
About five minutes later an unlikely suspect tied the game for the Knights. Brandon Crawley, with help from Drake Rymsha and Aiden Jamieson, put some mustard on his Schneiders wiener dog and made it 1-1 with 7:13 on the clock.
Crawley found his way onto the scoresheet again just moments later, but this time he took a penalty and gave the Petes a 5-on-3. After some patient passing between Matt Timms and Eric Cornel, Clarke took the puck in the high slot and blew one past Giugovaz to give Peterborough a 2-1 lead.
The middle period ended with the Petes controlling momentum and hopping into a 20-19 shot lead to go along with the one goal advantage heading into the third.
Peterborough continued to play with the edge in the final period, but the Petes still only lead by one as the mid-way mark progressed. Just when London started putting together some chances, Jonathan Ang did this. The rookie forward undressed the Knights’ defenders faster than any given scene in Fifty Shades of Grey, going between his legs and around Giugovaz to extend Peterborough’s lead to 3-1 from Cornel and Kyle Jenkins.
The Knights were unable to recapture whatever spark they thought they found before Ang’s goal, and after pulling the goal while shorthanded, Eric Cornel sealed the deal with an empty-netter from Ang and Nathan Pancel with 17.0 seconds on the clock. The final shots on goal were 32-27 for the Petes.
Clarke, Cornel, and Ang were the Original Pond Gear first, second, and third stars of the game, respectively, while Josh Maguire earned Mark’s Work Wearhouse hardest working player of the game honours in Thursday’s Giant Tiger Petes win.
The Petes travel to Kingston on Friday night before hosting those same Frontenacs at the PMC in a rare Tuesday night game next week. Tckets are available here while supplies last, and don’t forget to follow the Petes on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
