Mid-Michigan has provided some tough terrain for the London Knights over the past week. After a 4-1 loss in Saginaw on Saturday, Flint did everything but make it easy on London Wednesday night in Flint.
Mitchell Stephens scored the winner in a shootout to complete a two-goal comeback as London knocked off the Firebirds 4-3.
London fell behind 3-1 early in the second period but caught a break from a net that seemed to have somewhere else to be all night as it repeatedly came off its pegs.
With the Firebirds holding a two-man advantage, the puck came to Kole Sherwood off to the left of the Knights net, who then wristed home what looked to be a good goal.
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A four was even posted on the scoreboard but the officials then conferred and after the play was reviewed, it was ruled that as London goalie Tyler Johnson came sliding across his crease, the net became dislodged before the the puck went in. No goal.
“That was a big moment,” Knights’ forward Adrian Carbonara said. “In a strange way, it gave us a lift and we finished the penalty kill and got back to playing how we want to play.”
Carbonara helped London back to within a goal before the second period ended, as he took a nifty feed from Janne Kuokkanen and roofed a shot under the crossbar on Flint goalie Garrett Forrest.
Time ticked away at a fairly good clip in the third period and the Knights had just as many chances to tie the game as the Firebirds had to stretch their lead.
With four minutes to go, London found themselves on the penalty kill again and in some trouble, still trailing 3-2.
Stephens skated the puck out of his own zone for the Knights and was tripped up, drawing a Flint penalty. Stephens got back to his feet without losing the puck, chipped a pass to Robert Thomas and the two of them stepped in across the Firebirds’ blue line (just onside) on a two-on-one. Thomas sliced a pass across to Stephens and he buried his 19th goal of the season to tie the game 3-3.
In overtime, Stephens continued to push. Twice he came as close as the goal post to ending it.
“Robbie (Thomas) and I were flying in overtime,” Stephens said. “We had a lot of great chances and it was evident that we wanted to win that game really bad.”
In the end, it was off to a shootout where London was still riding a 1-4 record. After two saves from Johnson and one from Forrest, Knights’ head coach Dale Hunter tapped Stephens to take the next shot and he deked across the crease and lifted a backhand into the net.
Johnson made a third save at the other end of the ice which completed the comeback and moved London back into a first place tie in the overall standings with the Erie Otters.
The point gained by Flint was helpful to them in their bid to secure a playoff spot. The Firebirds now lead the Spirit by five points for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
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Flint’s first-round pick, Ty Dellandrea opened the scoring, as he stole a puck in behind the London net while killing a penalty and wrapped it in. Dellandrea scored his second of the game to make it 3-1. Ryan Moore also scored for the Firebirds on a feed from Sherwood, who increased his scoring streak to 14 games.
Kuokkanen scored his 20th of the year, as he banged in a feed from Evan Bouchard.
The Oulunsalo native almost had another goal in the first period, but it was waved off after that same net came off its moorings as Kuokkanen flipped a rebound over the goalie.
London heads for Kitchener on Friday to face the Rangers. The pregame show will being at 6:30 on AM 980.
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