Ruslan Gazizov scored twice as the London Knights toppled the Sarnia Sting 6-1 at Budweiser Gardens on March 8.
London forward Kaleb Lawrence ended the night with a Gordie Howe hat trick and was named the game’s first star as the Knights finished off their season series with Sarnia that saw London win five of the six games.
Easton Cowan wasted no time extending his point streak as he picked up a first-period assist to hit 31 straight games with at least a point.
The Knights spent all kinds of time in the Sarnia zone in the opening period and found the back of the net twice.
Isaiah George and Landon Sim worked a give-and-go that George finished with a snap shot past Nick Surzycia at the 4:46 mark of the first period.
Later, on a London power play, Kaleb Lawrence won a faceoff to Easton Cowan and Cowan fed Kasper Halttunen for his 31st goal of the year that extended Cowan’s point streak. It is now one game behind Brett MacLean for the longest streak in the past 25 years and two back of Dave Gilmore for the all-time Knights record.
Ruslan Gazizov scored the lone goal of the second period to make it 3-0 Knights. Gazizov had been stopped by Surzycia on a first-period penalty shot but made no mistake on his 29th of the year on another London power play.
The Knights tacked on two more in the first four minutes of the third period as Lawrence scored 28 seconds after the opening faceoff and William Nicholl added his sixth of the season just over three minutes later.
Gazizov scored his 30th on a beautiful cross-ice pass from Denver Barkey that gave the Knights their third power play goal of the games and a 6-0 lead.
Just eight seconds after Gazizov’s goal Sarnia scored their only goal of the night as Easton Wainwright got in on a breakaway to close out the scoring.
London outshot the Sting 34-17 as Owen Willmore stopped 16 shots to improve his record to 14-4 on the year.
Former Knight traded to Boston
For three straight years in the National Hockey League, if you had Patrick Maroon on your roster you won the Stanley Cup. Maroon won his first Cup in his hometown with the St. Louis Blues and then moved south to the Tampa Bay Lightning and was part of two more championships.
Maroon went from Tampa to Minnesota this past year and on March 8 the 35-year old was traded by the Wild to the Boston Bruins for a conditional sixth round draft pick in 2026. Maroon played one season for the Knights in 2007-08 and had 90 points in 64 games.
Up next
London and Kitchener will meet for the final time in the regular season on Saturday, March 9 at 4 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
The Knights clinched the season series between the clubs with an overtime point on March 1st in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
London beat the Rangers three straight times over a 12-day span in January.
Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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