Jacob Julien of the London Knights scored the game-winning goal on a short-handed breakaway with 13.2 seconds remaining in the game as London opened the pre-season with a 5-4 home ice win over the Erie Otters.
London found themselves down 3-0 early and battled back to take a 4-3 third period lead before having to weather two 5-on-3 Otter power plays in the very late stages that allowed Erie to tie the game with just 2:03 left on the clock.
The Knights managed to fend off the Otters on the penalty kill long enough for Landon Sim to come out of the penalty box, strip a puck from an Erie player and then send Julien in alone where he beat Otters goaltender Noah Erliden underneath his blocker.
It was London’s first game of the pre-season. It was Erie’s fourth.
The Otters played the Saginaw Spirit, the Brantford Bulldogs and the Kitchener Rangers as all four teams got together at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1.
Sim ended the night with two goals and two assists and was named the game’s first star.
He scored twice for the Knights in the second period on a power of power play goals.
The first came on a high shot from the slot to finish a four-way passing play.
The second came on a low shot after a solid setup by Sam O’Reilly who took advantage of some space coming out of the right corner of the Erie end before finding Sim going to the left post.
That brought London back after the Otters had jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period following goals by Pano Fimis, Ondrej Molnar and Gabe Frasca.
Kaeden Johnston scored twice in a span of two minutes and four seconds to put the Knights ahead 4-3 at 9:46 of the third period.
Alexis Daviault tied the game on a power play one-timer to set the stage for the Sim-to-Julien finish.
Bonk had three assists for London.
O’reilly had a pair of assists and Julien finished the game with a goal and an assist.
Owen Willmore and Alexei Medvedev split goaltending duties for London.
The Knights outshot the Otters 36-33.
Noah Read officially joins Knights
After an impressive training camp the London Knights announced the signing of 17-year old Noah Read of St. Catharines to an OHL Scholarship and Development Agreement. Read was a 10th round pick of the Knights in 2023 but had a big season with his hometown St. Catharines Falcons as a 16-year old. Read scored 12 goals and recorded 26 assists in 48 games. He made his preseason debut against the Erie Otters on Sept. 6.
Up next
The Knights and Otters will meet on Saturday, Sept. 7 in St. Thomas, Ont., for a second pre-season game to be played at the Joe Thornton Community Centre.
Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
Following that London will play back-to-back games against the Sarnia Sting to finish the pre-season on Sept. 20 in London, Ont., and then on Sept. 21 in Sarnia.