With a schedule that made a night’s sleep seem like a short winter’s nap, the London Knights dug deep and beat the Storm 8-1 in Guelph Storm on Sunday afternoon.
London was playing their third game in less than 46 hours, having arrived home after 1 a.m. Sunday morning following their loss in Owen Sound.
“A game like this tests your mental toughness,” said Knights’ goalie Tyler Johnson. “You get back late and you get up early, but we found a way to make sure we were ready to go.”
Johnson was in net for both London wins on the weekend, stopping 65 of 67 shots faced.
The Knights hit 40 victories for the sixth consecutive season.
A fast start helped to dictate things in Guelph. London scored three first-period goals, capitalizing on bounces.
A slap shot by Evan Bouchard on a power play went off Storm defenceman Ryan Merkley and was buried by Janne Kuokkanen. The Carolina Hurricanes’ prospect now has three goals in his last five games.
Just over a minute after James MacEwan tied the game on a Guelph power play, Knights’ captain J.J. Piccinich raced a puck in across the Storm blue line, went in behind the net and fed a pass out front to Sam Miletic for his 29th goal of the year.
Mitchell Stephens made use of a late bounce off a body in front to bang in his second goal of the weekend with 24 seconds remaining, as London headed to the dressing room with a 3-1 lead.
The Knights struck quickly in the second period to increase that lead on a bang-bang play from Victor Mete to Liam Foudy in the slot at the 3:03 mark.
A minute and seven seconds later, Miletic hit the 30-goal mark on a hard shot that came from the left side of the Storm net.
Later in the period, Robert Thomas wired a wrist shot over the glove of Guelph goalie Anthony Popovich and inside the post, giving the Knights a 6-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Cliff Pu and Dante Salituro added third period goals to close out the scoring and bring the Knights back to within four points of the Erie Otters for first overall with nine games to go on the schedule for both clubs.
London defenceman Victor Mete was left feeling fatigued but satisfied.
“We haven’t won big in awhile and to do it on a Sunday, finishing three games in three days feels pretty good,” Mete said.
The Otters were also playing their third game in two and a half days and fell victim to a hard-charging Owen Sound Attack team. The Attack erased a 2-0 Erie lead with three goals in 56 seconds in the second period and went on to a 4-2 victory.
Kuokkanen and Piccinich had the biggest offensive afternoons for London. Kuokkanen had a goal and an assist and Piccinich chipped in three assists.
The Knights will stay on the road for over another week, heading to Kitchener on Friday and Windsor on Saturday. London returns home for back to back games against Guelph and Erie on March 9 and 10.
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