Gameday Preview: Knights at Ottawa

Knights at 67s – 2:00 p.m. – TD Place – Ottawa, Ontario
Broadcast: 1:30 p.m. – AM980 and http://player.am980.ca

Where the teams sit

In very different places.  When Saginaw lost to Erie two Saturdays ago, the London Knights clinched a playoff spot.

Ottawa has not been that lucky.

Currently, the 67s are tied with the North Bay Battalion for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  Now, they have some company.  Niagara is only two points ahead.  That battle could last right up to the final week of the season.

Ottawa’s game against Oshawa on Friday night was an excellent example of how their year has gone.  Needing points, they got to a shootout against the first place Generals.  Fourteen straight 67s shooters were stopped by Jeremy Brodeur.  At the other end of the ice, Ottawa goalie, Leo Lazarev made 13 consecutive saves on Oshawa shooters and then Kyle MacLean beat him on number 14 and the 67s lost.

That was one of the longest shootouts in Ontario Hockey League history.  The longest still belongs to the London Knights and Mississauga from December 2, 2012.  They went 19 rounds.  Every player shot and Seth Griffith became the only OHL player ever to score twice in the same shootout to win it for London.

The Knights are coming off a 4-1 win in Kingston on Sunday afternoon that was highlighted by the return of Victor Mete to London’s lineup.  Mete missed 15 games after being struck in the head by a shot on January13 in a game against the Saginaw Spirit.  He came back flying, recording a goal and an assist and playing catalyst on the power play and on breakouts all afternoon.

Jordan Kooy got the win in net for the Knights, improving his record to 7-1 and dropping his goals against average to 1.82.

London enters Family Day tied for second overall with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

The season series so far

The only other meeting this season was all Knights.  Janne Kuokkanen has four assists and Dante Salituro scored twice and picked up three points against his old team in a 7-2 London win.  Both Brandon Crawley and Mitch Vande Sompel were plus-4 in that game.  Crawley ranks third among defencemen and fifth overall in OHL plus/minus.

The match up

The two points at stake are massive for both sides.  The turbulence at the top of the Western Conference standings is wild.  Four teams are separated by three points and the difference between being at the top of that group and the bottom is large.  It will mean having home ice advantage in the first round and not having it.

London has 13 games remaining and nine of those are on the road in places like Windsor and Erie and Owen Sound and Sault Ste. Marie.  Those are hard buildings to win in.  Some are near impossible.  Erie has yet to lose in regulation on home ice.

The 67s are another story.  They have the worst home ice record in the league at 8-16-1.  Wins and losses for them are beginning to dictate whether or not they are alive once the post-season begins.

Ottawa will be playing desperate and London will be looking to take advantage of the 67s’ struggles at TD Place.

It should make for a fun Family Day afternoon.

One More Story

It will be a great afternoon of scoreboard watching in the Ontario Hockey League.  Sixteen of the twenty teams are playing.

First place in the West meets first place in the east as Erie visits Oshawa.  The Otters are after their 14^th win in a row.

Owen Sound is now two points behind London and will be in Mississauga

Sarnia is home to Saginaw

Kitchener travels to Hamilton.

Flint is at Guelph

Sudbury is in Peterborough

Kingston is home to Barrie.