In their final game before heading to Team Canada’s final selection camp for the World Juniors, Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan and Denver Barkey led the way in a 7-3 victory over the Saginaw Spirit on Dec. 8 at Budweiser Gardens.
The trio combined for 11 points as Barkey scored twice and added two assists, Cowan ended with a goal and two assists and Bonk added a pair of helpers.
The Knights came out with their best start of the season as they zoomed to a 4-0 lead before the game was 14 minutes old. And that lead came against a team that had won 12 of their past 13 games entering the night.
Kasper Halttunen slammed home his 20th of the year on an early power play to make it 1-0 at 1:59.
Barkey picked up his 14th goal and 40th point before the midway mark of the opening period.
Cowan scored on a deflection at 12:46 and then Jacob Julien connected on another power play opportunity just 52 seconds later and London found themselves up by four.
At that point they had surrendered three shots.
The fourth Saginaw shot found the back of the Knight net as Rodwin Dionicio wristed a shot through traffic to make it 4-1.
London bounced back quickly as Landon Sim scored his first goal of the season in just his second game back from injury on a nice deke to his backhand and the score was 5-1 Knights.
Before the wacky and wild opening 20 minutes had ended Strathroy’s Hunter Haight scored after making a beautiful move in tight and the teams went to their respective rooms to catch their collective breath.
Saginaw owned the number one power play unit in the OHL coming into the game and it went to work on three consecutive London minor penalties and the Knights killed off the entire trio and even added their sixth goal when Cowan and Barkey flew down the ice on a two-on-oh breakaway that Barkey finished for his 4th short-handed goal this year and a 6-2 advantage. Barkey is tied with Carey Terrance of the Erie Otters for the league lead in short-handed goals.
Spirit forward and former Spitfire Alex Christopoulos scored before the end of the second period and the Knights went to the final 20 minutes with a three-goal lead.
London added a final goal by Max McCue to complete the scoring one minute and 20 seconds into the third period.
Sam O’Reilly assisted on the McCue goal after taking a gorgeous pass from Isaiah George. O’Reilly had two assists in the game.
The Knights outshot the Spirit 36-22
London also scored a power play goal for the eighth consecutive game as they went 2-for-6.
The penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5 for the Knights.
Hottest place on the planet might be Knights power play
The last time the London Knights power play was held silent was Nov. 17 against the Flint Firebirds. Since then they have 16 goals in 32 opportunities for a scorching 50-per cent success rate in an eight-game span.
Going into their game against the Sarnia Sting on Dec. 5, London’s power play was clicking 66.6 per cent of the time over the span of a half-dozen games. In their current run the Knights have gone a perfect three-for-three against Saginaw and had two games in which they have gone three for four.
Bang-Bang Bo
The man who is known in London, Ont., for scoring a championship-winning goal with 0.1 seconds left on the clock became known on Long Island for netting two goals in 20 seconds. Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders scored at 11:31 of the third period and then again at 11:51 as the Islanders demolished Columbus 7-3.
The NHL record for the fastest two goals by a single player is four seconds. It was originally set by Nels Stewart of the Montreal Maroons in 1931 but was then matched by Deron Quint of the Winnipeg Jets in 1995.
Up next
The Knights will be in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Sunday, Dec. 10 to play the Soo Greyhounds for the second time this season.
The teams met in London’s third game of the season in the Sault on Oct. 4 and the ‘Hounds edged the Knights 3-2 in a shootout.
Sault Ste. Marie sits in first place in the West Division.
Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer app.
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