Jacob Julien recorded a hat trick as the London Knights held off the Kitchener Rangers for a 6-4 win in Game 3 on April 16 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
Denver Barkey assisted on each of Julien’s goals.
The Knights now lead the Rangers 3-0 in their best-of seven second-round series.
Sam Dickinson accounted for an incredibly quick start as he finished a three-way passing play off the rush just 15 seconds into the game for his first goal of the 2024 playoffs and a 1-0 London lead.
Jared Woolley helped to get a puck free to Ruslan Gazizov at the Kitchener blue line less than four minutes later and Gazizov’s shot hit Kasper Halttunen and went into the Ranger net and the Knights led 2-0 through 20 minutes.
The teams combined for five power play goals in the second period as London jumped ahead 4-1 on a pair from Londoner and Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Julien, while Kitchener’s came from Adrian Miseljevic.
Knights forward Kaleb Lawrence was given a five-minute major penalty for a check to the head and that led to a Trent Swick goal to tighten the score to 4-2 for the Knights.
A Max McCue minor penalty gave the Rangers a 5-on-3 man advantage and Edward Sale’s one-timer from the right side got Kitchener to within a goal heading into the final 20 minutes.
The Rangers tied the game 3:13 into the third period on a deflection by Cameron Mercer and the score stayed that way until Barkey threaded a pass into the Kitchener crease off a rush and Julien put it home to regain the lead for London.
Barkey threaded a pass to Julien at the edge of the Kitchener crease just over six minutes later and he buried his third of the game for his second career hat trick to give the Knights the lead back.
They would hold it from there.
A Michael Simpson save inside the final 30 seconds led to an Isaiah George empty-netter and that ended the scoring.
London outshot the Rangers 34-29.
Easton Cowan was held without a point for the first time since Nov. 25 and that ended 42 consecutive games with at least a point.
Knights and Rangers on the final NHL Central Scouting List
NHL Central Scouting released their final list ahead of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas. Among North American skaters notable players include London defender Sam Dickinson (7th), Delhi native and Brantford forward Marek Vanacker (17th), Londoner and Guelph Storm forward Jett Luchanko (20th), Knights forward Sam O’Reilly (24th), London defender Jared Wooley (73rd), Kitchener forward Luke Ellinas (88th), Rangers forward Trent Swick (109th), Knights forward Ruslan Gazizov (192nd) and Rangers defenceman Max Dirracolo (220). Dirracolo was signed midseason by the Rangers as a free agent. Sebastian Gatto was London’s 12th round pick in the 2024 OHL Priority selection and was the 16th ranked North American goalie on the list. Macklin Celebrini was ranked number one among North American skaters.
Logan Mailloux makes NHL debut
The Montreal Canadiens recalled Logan Mailloux on April 16 and he made his National Hockey League debut in the Habs’ final game of the year. Mailloux played for both the London Knights and London Nationals and has 14 goals and 47 points in 70 American League games with the Laval Rocket.
Up next
Game 4 will take place on Thursday, April 18 back at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.