Ruslan Gazizov scored twice as the London Knights stifled the Saginaw Spirit through three periods to win 3-1 and take a two games to none lead in the OHL’s Western Conference Championship series.
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead after Ruslan Gazizov converted a Max McCue pass on a two-on-two at 5:01 of the opening period and then Kasper Halttunen wristed in his ninth goal of the playoffs on a power play at the 13:50 mark of the first.
Saginaw defender Rodwin Dionicio snapped a shot from the high slot into the London net just 32 seconds into the second period on a power play.
The Knights put a puck into the Spirit net on a power play of their own not long after that but the play was rules offside and the score remained 2-1 heading into the third period.
London held off the Spirit through the final 20 minutes as the Knights limited them to seven shots on goal in the third and 18 shots overall.
Gazizov’s second goal went into an empty net with 1:06 remaining.
Sam O’Reilly had an assist and was 9-for-12 on faceoffs.
Cowan had a pair of assists on the day.
The Knights set a new franchise record with their tenth straight victory to start the post-season.
London’s Team of the Century went 9-0 to begin the playoffs in 2005.
The 2023-24 London Knights have now won 17 straight games dating back to the regular season.
The Knights outshot Saginaw 27-18.
London was 1-for-4 on the man advantage. The Spirit were 1-for-3.
Both teams were missing two key defencemen as Jackson Edward was away from the team for the second game in a row for personal reasons and Alec Leonard was out due to injury. Leonard was injured in Game 1 against the Spirit on Apr. 26 and according to London assistant coach Dylan Hunter is expected to be out for the “foreseeable future.”
Saginaw again played without goaltender Andrew Oke who was injured in their series with the Soo Greyhounds. Spirit defenceman Zayne Parekh was expected to play but ended up not taking warm-up and then did not take to the ice as Parekh missed his third consecutive game due to injury.
London’s Kaleb Lawrende and Saginaw’s James Guo each missed Game 2 due to suspension. Lawrence has two games remaining to serve. Guo’s suspension for a slash on the hand of Travis Hayes of Sault Ste. Marie is still listed as indefinite.
Former Knights in the NHL playoffs
Every single series in the 2024 NHL playoffs has had at least one ex-London Knight. The Toronto Maple Leafs land Boston Bruins lead the way with four former Knights on the ice and an assistant coach on the Boston bench. (Chris Kelly) Londoner Mike Van Ryn is an assistant coach with Toronto as well. Here is the rest of the lost:
Toronto vs Boston
Tor – Mitch Marner, Max Domi, John Tavares
Bos – Patrick Maroon
Florida vs Tampa Bay
Fla – Matthew Tkachuk
TB – Austin Watson (Jeff Reese – goaltending coach)
New York Islanders vs Washington
NYI – Bo Horvat
New York Rangers vs Washington
Wash – Connor McMichael, John Carlson
Edmonton vs Los Angeles
Edm – Evan Bouchard, Corey Perry
*Londoner Drew Doughty plays for the Kings
Vegas vs Dallas
Veg – Paul Cotter
Winnipeg vs Colorado
Wpg – Vladislav Namestnikov
Vancouver vs Nashville
Nsh – Luke Evangelista
Van – Nikita Zadorov
Up next
The Western Conference Championship now shifts to Saginaw and there isn’t much of a wait for the next puck drop.
Game 3 will be played at the Dow Event Center on Monday, Apr. 29 at 7 p.m.
Game 4 takes place on Wednesday, May 1 at 7 p.m.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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