London Knights at Erie Otters – 7:00 p.m. – Erie Insurance Arena, Erie, PA.
Broadcast: 6:30 p.m. – AM980, http://player.am980.ca and Radioplayer App
Where the teams sit
The London Knights and the Erie Otters have been battling for first place in the Ontario Hockey League standings all season.
With six days remaining in the regular season, the Otters have a six-point edge over the London Knights. You can isolate that difference to their most recent meetings. Erie has won all three.
The Knights need some things to fall into place to grab first overall. Quite a few things. The first is a win in Erie. A loss takes London out of the running completely. Right now the Knights can mathematically finish anywhere from first overall to fifth overall. A win by London would guarantee them home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Otters won the Hamilton Spectator Trophy last year, securing the best record in the regular season with a win over the Knights in their final game. A tiebreaker was still needed to split the teams. Both finished with 105 points. To match that total this year, Erie would need to win their final three games.
The season series so far
The Knights and Otters play each other six times during the year. Three home. Three away. If you count the pre-season, you can bump that number to eight. They get to know each other quite well.
On September 23 they got together at Budweiser Gardens for the first time this season with two points at stake. With twelve London players still away at NHL training camps, the Knights won 6-2.
London has been looking for a similar result ever since.
The clubs met again three weeks later, this time in Erie. The Otters won 7-1.
On Jan. 27 at Budweiser Gardens, the Knights came out flying as both teams fought the flu. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Owen MacDonald and Liam Foudy, but Erie bounced back and hemmed London in their own zone for much of the second period. They scored three straight and took a 3-2 lead. MacDonald tied the game in the third and overtime was waiting outside the door when Kyle Maksimovich spun around at the right point and flung a wrist shot at the London net. Dylan Strome got a stick on it and deflected it in with 40 seconds remaining and the Otters went on to a 5-3 victory.
The teams went to Erie on Feb. 15 and Erie held the Knights to 17 shots and won 5-1.
The fifth meeting saw London come out flying. They controlled the first period, outshooting the Otters 15-7. The Knights led 1-0 after the first period.
In that period, struggling Erie goalie, Troy Timpano made a save off Robbie Thomas on a two-on-one that seemed to flip a switch. He went from fighting the puck to stopping every shot he faced and the Otters capitalized on two power play opportunities and won 4-1.
This is the final opportunity for each team to leave a lasting impression prior to the post-season.
They met two years ago in the second round and the Otters won in four games.
After splitting their season series last year, they found themselves head-to-head in the Western Conference finals and the Knights too the series in four straight.
It would shock no one in the OHL if London and Erie found a way to meet up again.
The matchup
There are athletes who say a game can be won or lost even before the competition begins. It all comes down to belief. Believe you can and there is a good chance you will. Believe you can’t and there is a good chance you won’t.
The London Knights need to prove to themselves they can beat the Otters when both teams have full line-ups.
The Knights’ roster will be as full as it can possibly be when the puck drops tonight. Max Jones returns from suspension and brings a combination of skill and energy on the wing that can have opponents reeling if they aren’t ready.
Dante Salituro fired pucks off three posts in games against the Otters and Guelph last week, but he kept creating chances and put a puck between the posts against the Storm on Sunday. He has been looking like the player who got to London in January and that’s exactly what the Knights need right now.
The power play is a huge storyteller when these teams get together. Erie has converted on 26.9% of their chances. The Knights have scored on 26.2% of theirs.
Take penalties and you risk giving the other side major momentum. It happened in their last meeting on Thursday. London will be looking to keep it from happening again.
One more story
Alex DeBrincat of the Otters is in the OHL record books.
He scored a goal in 19-straight games. His last one went into an empty net at Budweiser Gardens and tied him with Mike Ricci for longest goal scoring streak in Ontario Hockey League history.
Two nights later, DeBrincat went into Peterborough against Ricci’s old team and while his teammates poured seven goals past the Petes, DeBrincat came away with one assist, ending his run.
It’s the kind of streak that doesn’t come along very often. Ricci accomplished his in 1988 and retired from hockey nine years ago after a nearly 15-year career in the National Hockey League.
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