Easton Cowan scored twice and Jackson Edward snapped in the game-winning goal with 12:37 to go in the third period, as the London Knights eliminated the 2024 Memorial Cup hosts in six games with a 4-2 victory in Saginaw, Mich.
With the Spirit pushing to tie the game and remain alive, Cowan got to the puck just in front of his bench at the London blue line and whipped a shot down the ice and into the empty Saginaw net to seal things with 37 seconds remaining in the game.
Edward had put the Knights in the lead with a snap shot from the top of the right circle 12 minutes earlier.
After tying an Ontario Hockey League record with 29 short-handed goals in 68 games in the regular season Cowan scored London’s very first short-handed goal of the playoffs in London’s 14th game of the post-season.
The Knights led the game 1-0 after 20 minutes. Cowan’s goal came with 50 seconds remaining in the first period and the score stayed that way until the 16:43 mark of the second period when a puck popped out of a scrum on the left side of the London end, right to Nashville Predators prospect Joey Willis, who wired a wrist shot at the Knight net that trickled across the goal line to tie the game.
Sam O’Reilly put London in front just 1:25 into the third period as Max McCue got a puck in front to Ruslan Gazizov and he found O’Reilly who backhanded the puck past Lalonde.
Once again Saginaw tied it as Spirit defenceman Jorian Donovan cut to the Knight net and put a backhand of his own over the goal line.
London responded just 48 seconds later thanks to Edward’s shot and led the game from there to the finish.
The Spirit outshot London 35-26.
Power plays did not factor in as the Knights were o-for-1 and Saginaw went 0-for-3.
Canada wins gold at Under-18 World Hockey Championship
A day after holding on for a 5-4 victory over Sweden in the semi-finals of the Under-18 World Junior Hockey Championship Team Canada came back from a 3-1 deficit and defeated Team USA 6-4 to win gold at the tournament for the first time since 2021.
Londoner Jett Luchanko was a member of Team Canada and had an assist in the game and seven points in seven games overall.
Up next
London will await the winner of the Eastern Conference Championship between the North Bay Battalion and the Oshawa Generals.
North Bay forced Game 7 with an emphatic 8-1 victory on home ice on May 6.
Game 7 will take place in Oshawa on Monday, May 6.
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