Greyhounds Defeat Knights
March 18, 2018 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
London Knights News Release
Heading into the final day of the Ontario Hockey League's regular season, there were playoff implications for 12 of the 16 post-season participants.
All had to do with playoff positioning.
The London Knights may have had the toughest task. A win would give them home-ice advantage in their first series against the Owen Sound Attack, but London found themselves in Sault Ste. Marie against the Greyhounds, who own the league's best record and were smarting from a Friday home-ice loss to the Flint Firebirds.
The Knights ended up falling 6-3 in a game that was much closer than the final score showed.
"I thought our effort was great," said London assistant coach Rick Steadman. "I thought we were working hard and playing great [defence]. We pretty much shut them down except on special teams, and anytime you can do that against a top team, you give yourself a chance to win."
London scored the first goal of the game and led 2-1 after the first period. That's when a penalty parade began for both teams - and the Greyhounds capitalized.
They were 4-for-10 on the man advantage and London was 2-for-8. Take away a goal scored with 9.3 seconds to go in the game and that was the difference.
The Knights put a rise into the crowd with 10:47 to go in the third period, trailing 5-3 as London head coach Dale Hunter elected to pull the goalie with the Knights on a 5-on-3 power play to turn it into a 6-on-3.
Evan Bouchard hit the crossbar, but no London player could find the back of the net and Sault Ste. Marie held on for their 55th victory of the year. The Hounds tied a Knights record with seven regulation-time losses, a record first set in 2004-05 by a London team that went on to win the Memorial Cup.
Knights forward Connor McMichael also hit a crossbar in the final period.
Jordan Kooy made 34 saves in the London net.
The Knights now go on the road to Owen Sound to begin the post-season this week.
How the goals were scored
Harrison Cottam of the Knights made use of the old adage "Put the puck at the net" to score the first goal. He chipped a puck toward the goal from near the blue line and it got through former Knights goalie Tyler Johnson and trickled to the side of the net, where Josh Nelson tucked it in to give London a 1-0 lead.
Hayden Verbeek of the Greyhounds tied the game on a rebound, but the Knights went ahead again before the end of the first period as Evan Bouchard pounded a slapshot past Johnson on a power play to make it 2-1 London after 20 minutes.
Two goals by Noah Carroll and Barrett Hayton on the man advantage put Sault Ste. Marie in front 3-2, but London bounced back on a power play of their own as Liam Foudy fed Tyler Rollo in front for his third goal in three games and a 3-3 tie.
Jack Kopacka added to the Greyhounds' league-leading short-handed goal total with his 31st of the season at 18:53 and the Soo led for the first time through 40 minutes...
Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 18, 2018
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- Greyhounds Defeat Knights - London Knights
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- Sting to Face the Windsor Spitfires in R Ound One of the 2018 Playoffs â=80" Full Series Schedule - Sarnia Sting
- Fronts Drop Regular Season Finale to Steelheads, But Avoid Injury Heading into Postseason - Kingston Frontenacs
- 67's Cap Regular Season with Convincing Shutout Win over North Bay - Ottawa 67's
- 2018 OHL Playoff Tracker: First Round Schedules and Scenarios - OHL
- Game Day: Gens vs Wolves - Oshawa Generals
- Knights Win in Overtime - London Knights
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