London’s Defense Smothers Sarnia 4-1
By Carl Chimenti
The largest crowd of the season, 4,434, watched the London Knights (24-15-3-0) defensive unit shut down the Sarnia Sting (13-25-4-1) 4-1, Friday night, at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
A red-hot Sting offense came into the game having scored 14 goals in their last three games, but they were frustrated by the Knights’ defensive game plan and could muster just one goal on 22 shots. The majority of the Sting shots came in the first period (14), with the remaining eight shots in the middle frame. Sarnia entered the third period trailing 3-1 and were held without a shot in that final period. It was the first time this season that the Sting did not register a shot on goal in one period.
Ben Pickell scored his 11th of the season in the second period for the lone Sting goal, from Alessandro Di Iorio. Sarnia goaltender Kale Osipenko made his second straight solid start, as he turned away 28 of the 31 shots, with many in the high-danger areas, keeping his team within striking distance. Osipenko was named the second star.
Jaxon Cover, William Nicholl (Edmonton Oilers), Caleb Mitchell, and Henry Brzustewicz (Los Angeles Kings), into an empty net, scored for the Knights. Mitchell nabbed the first star and Brzustewicz was the third star. London goaltender Sebastian Gatto beat Sarnia for the fourth consecutive time this season, as he stopped 21 of 22 shots.
Overall, the Knights out-shot the Sting 32-22. Both teams went 0/2 with the man advantage.
The Knights scored on their first two shots in the first period, despite being out-shot 14-4. London scored both goals 23 seconds apart. Cover put London in front with the first goal at 5:47, from Rene Van Bommel and Braidy Wassilyn. Nicholl scored from a sharp angle for the Knights’ second goal at 6:10, with Cohen Bidgood drawing the lone assist.
Osipenko was excellent in the second period, as he turned away all but one of the 18 shots he faced. London out-shot Sarnia 18-8. Both teams scored 37 seconds apart in the final four minutes. The Sting sliced the Knights’ lead to one goal at 17:05. Di Iorio, showing great patience with the puck behind the net, found Pickell alone in front, feeding him a short pass, and Pickell buried it behind Gatto for the first Sting goal.
The Knights came right back to score their only goal in the middle frame from Caleb Mitchell at 17:42. Brody Cook and Kaeden Hawkins assisted on the scoring play.
