Quentin Musty recorded a hat trick as the high-powered Sudbury Wolves offence ignited against the London Knights on Friday night in a 9-2 Wolves victory.
The Wolves were celebrating “Shoresy Night” in honour of the Canadian TV comedy that films in Sudbury.
The Wolves wore Blueberry Bulldogs uniforms for the game.
Sudbury raced out to a 2-0 lead on goals by St. Louis Blues first round pick Dalibbor Dvorsky and centre Nathan Villeneuve before Jacob Julien kept his hot streak going with his seventh goal of the year in the final two minutes of the first period.
That cut Sudbury’s lead to 2-1 but Musty, a San Jose Sharks prospect, scored with six-tenths of one second remaining to put the Wolves ahead by two again.
Sudbury increased their lead in the second period as first Djibril Toure and then Kocha Delic found the back of the Knight net and then Musty deked home his second of the game as he jumped on a loose puck off a faceoff in the London zone to give the Wolves a 6-1 advantage through 40 minutes.
The Knights scored quickly on a power play to begin the final period as a Sam Dickinson shot was deflected into the Sudbury goal to make it 6-2. London is now 10-for-22 on the man advantage in their past six games. Kasper Halttunen assisted on the goal to stretch his point streak to nine games.
The Knights killed off a five-minute major penalty to Sawyer Boulton in the third period but the Wolves added two more as Dvorsky found David Goyette in front and then Chase Coughlin banged in a loose puck in front to make it 8-2.
Musty closed out the scoring with 4:51 remaining to complete his first hat trick in the Ontario Hockey League.
Will Nicholl did not play for London as he served game two of a three-game suspension for being the aggressor in a fight in Erie on Nov. 17.
Ethan MacKinnon and Landon Sim remain out of the Knights lineup as both continue to rehab injuries.
King Julien
Last year, London forward Jacob Julien went from Engineering at Western University to the London Nationals and then to the London Knights. At the end of the season Julien became a 5th round pick of the Winnipeg Jets at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. to begin this year Julien had a respectable eight points in 17 games but in the past six games the Londoner has five goals and seven points. He has become a fixture on a power play unit that is 10-for-22 in that span.
Merkley racking up points in Kunlun
The question will always be out there: How far would Ryan Merkley and the London Knights been able to go in 2019-20? The season ended early due to COVID-19 when the Knights were on a roll and a legitimate threat to win the Ontario Hockey League championship.
After four seasons in the San Jose Sharks organization and 39 games with the Sharks, Merkley was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. He elected to move to the Kontinental Hockey League at the start of 2023-24 and currently leads the Kunlun Red Star in scoring with 20 points in 33 games.
Up next
The Knights will complete their three-game road trip in Barrie against the Colts on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
The Colts have been looking for consistency. In their past three games heading into the weekend they lost to the Niagara IceDogs and then rebounded to defeat Guelph. They followed that up with a game that saw them outshoot the Owen Sound Attack 50-30 and lose 3-0.
Game coverage will begin at 7 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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