Michael Simpson made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season as the London Knights scored ten times to beat the Owen Sound Attack 10-0 at Budweiser Gardens on Sunday afternoon.
Sam O’Reilly, Oliver Bonk and Jackson Edward each had four point afternoons to lead the way offensively as the Knights won for the 12th game in a row.
The start of the game was delayed one hour because the Attack were late arriving due to tough travel conditions between Owen Sound and London. The Attack bus had to be pulled back onto the road after sliding into a snowbank near Mitchell, Ont.
The Knights surrounded Owen Sound with blizzard conditions inside Budweiser Gardens as the game began as London put five five goals into the Attack net and led 5-0 through 20 minutes.
Max McCue began the scoring on a deflection and then Oliver Bonk connected for his fourth goal in three games and the Knights were up 2-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Kasper Halttunen and Kaleb Lawrence scored 52 seconds apart to double London’s lead. Halttunen’s goal extended his point streak to 16 games. Lawrence’s goal came against the team that he played for to begin his OHL career.
Denver Barkey’s team-leading 23rd goal of the year gave the Knights their fifth goal just under three minutes later.
Boston Bruins prospect Jackson Edward had three assists in the opening 20 minutes.
London held Owen Sound to only three shots in the second period and scored twice.
Sam O’Reilly won a race to the puck and fed Evan Van Gorp at 12:14 and then Easton Cowan made a drop-pass to Barkey who passed to Jacob Julien who got the puck back to Cowan on the left side and Cowan set up Barkey for his second goal of the day.
Bonk, McCue and Cowan added third period to round out the scoring. Barkey came within a crossbar of completing the hat trick.
Simpson had to make two massive stops in the last three minutes as he kicked a Madden Steen shot away as Steen zoomed in on a breakaway after Steen stepped out of the penalty box and then Simpson stopped a second opportunity seconds later as he lunged across the crease.
The Knights outshot the Attack 47-28.
O’Reilly and Edward ended the game with four assists while Bonk had a pair of goals and a pair of assists.
Barkey had two goals and an assist and Cowan posted the reverse with a goal and two helpers.
Cowan now has 50 points on the season.
London kept pace with the Kitchener Rangers in the race for top spot in the overall standings. Kitchener defeated Ottawa 4-2 and currently sit one point ahead of the Knights. London has one game in hand.
Canada captures bronze at U-18 Women’s Worlds
After being shocked by Czechia in the semi-finals Canada bounced right back to win bronze at the Under-18 Women’s World Hockey Championship by beating Finland 8-1. Abby Stonehouse of Blenheim, Ont., scored two goals and finished the tournament with four goals and 11 points in six games.
Area NHL All-Star connections
The 2024 NHL All-Star weekend will take place in Toronto from Feb. 1-3. Former London Knight Mitch Marner was among the players added in fan voting along with Maple Leafs teammates William Nylander and Morgan Rielly. Rielly will be participating in his first All-Star event. They will join Boone Jenner (Mossley, Ont.), Travis Konecny (Clachan, Ont.), Nick Suzuki (London, Ont) and former Knight Robbie Thomas who were previously named to the NHL All-Star weekend.
Up next
The Knights now get set for a home-and-home matchup with the OHL-leading Kitchener Rangers.
The teams still have five regular season games remaining against each other.
The first of the two games takes place on Friday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex.
The teams then play a 4 p.m., game at Budweiser Gardens on Saturday, Jan. 20.
Coverage will start on Friday at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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