Knights drop Storm 4-1

 

by Matt Pelkey

 

The Guelph Storm were on the wrong side of a 4-1 game when they visited the London Knights Friday night. 

Luke Cairns potted the lone goal for the visiting Storm and Justin Nichols, playing his second game in as many nights, stopped 24 shots in the loss. 

John Warren, Zach Grzelewski, and Matt Rupert (2) scored for the Knights. Mitch Marner had three assists while Michael Giugovaz made 25 saves in the victory.

The first 10 minutes of the game saw a fairly equal matchup. Eight minutes into the period, Nichols was tested with back-to-back saves as a result of a stretch of pressure from the Knights. 

Austin Hall would break up a threatening three-on-two rush midway through the frame in what was the best scoring chance of the game up to that point.

London would take a 1-0 lead when Warren found himself left alone in front of the net where he would bury his third of the year, a wristshot past Nichols. 

Despite two power plays and outshooting the Knights 13-4, the Storm would enter the break down 1-0.

The second period saw domination from the home team.

Beginning the middle frame with a brief 25 second five-on-three power play, the Storm were still unable to beat Giugovaz. Guelph would finish the game 0-for-4 with the man advantage. 

Following penalties to both teams, The Knights would strike again, this time on a 4-on-3 power play. The OHL’s second-ranked power play would give London a 2-0 lead when Grzelewski potted his first career goal after a pretty feed from 2015 NHL draft prospect Marner. The goal came with just under five minutes to go in the period.

After having the puck the majority of the period, the Knights would head off with a 2-0 lead after 40 while outshooting the Storm 14-4 for the period.

London would put a damper on any hope the Storm had at a comeback when they increased their lead to three. While on another power play, Rupert would score his first of two after finishing off a sequence of passes. The Knights would continue their league-wide domination with the man-advantage by going two-for-five on the power play in the game.

Just over five minutes later, Guelph’s Cairns would break the shutout with his 11th of the year when he snapped home a shot past Giugovaz. The goal cut the Knights’ lead to 3-1.

Despite a strong attempt at a comeback, the Storm would fall short in London, dropping the road game 4-1 after Rupert scored his second of the evening on an empty-net.

London outshot the Storm 29-26. With the loss, Guelph dropped to 19-12-1-1 while the Knights improved to 22-10-0-2.

The Storm are back in action tomorrow afternoon when the Erie Otters visit the Sleeman Centre for a 2:00 PM puck drop. The game will be the last for the team before the Christmas Break. The game is also Spyke and Stormy’s mascot bash and includes a toy drive. 

 

GAME NOTES

– Tyler Bertuzzi has his 7-game point-streak snapped.

– Tonight’s game was the 4th of 6 meetings between the division rivals. The Storm are 1-3 this season against their division rivals.

– This was Guelph’s 5th game in 8 days, and their 2nd of a ‘3-in-3’.

– Second year defenceman Garrett McFadden did not play again as he recovers from a broken jaw.

– Jason Dickinson and Robby Fabbri missed their 5th straight game as they continue to participate in Team Canada’s evaluation camp for the World Junior Hockey Championship.

– Pius Suter and Phil Baltisberger missed their 2nd consecutive game while representing Switzerland at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

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Guelph Storm 1 at London Knights 4 – Status: Final
Friday, December 19, 2014 – Budweiser Gardens

Guelph 0 0 1 – 1
London 1 1 2 – 4

1st Period-1, London, Warren 3 (Grzelewski, Berisha), 11:35. Penalties-served by Seguin Ldn (too many men), 18:35; Rupert Ldn (slashing), 19:15.

2nd Period-2, London, Grzelewski 1 (Marner, Dvorak), 15:28 (PP). Penalties-Carroll Gue (hooking), 13:49; Berisha Ldn (high sticking), 13:58; Harpur Gue (cross checking), 14:50.

3rd Period-3, London, Rupert 10 (Dvorak, Marner), 5:01 (PP). 4, Guelph, Cairns 11 (Bauman, Boston), 10:14. 5, London, Rupert 11 (Mete, Marner), 19:31 (EN). Penalties-Hall Gue (high sticking), 1:01; Craievich Gue (slashing), 4:13; Dvorak Ldn (inter. on goaltender), 14:58; Harpur Gue (holding), 16:00.

Shots on Goal-Guelph 13-4-9-26. London 4-14-10-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Guelph 0 / 4; London 2 / 5.
Goalies-Guelph, Nichols 18-8-1-1 (27 shots-24 saves). London, Giugovaz 13-5-0-1 (26 shots-25 saves).
A-0
Referees-Darryl Wolfe (6), Ryan Carroll (9).
Linesmen-Chad Petrie (77), Ryan Wilson (89).