Sam O’Reilly’s goal 58 seconds into overtime gave the London Knights a 5-4 victory in Owen Sound on Oct. 9.
O’Reilly went hard to the net and Jacob Julien found him for the game-winner, which gave the Knights a happy finish to a game that they led twice as Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk and Easton Cowan all made their OHL season debuts.
Julien had three assists in the game and is now tied with William Nicholl, Evan Van Gorp and Henry Brzustewicz for the scoring lead on the Knights. Each player has five points.
The Attack got off to a fast start on goals by Harry Nansi and Declan Waddick before Easton Cowan got London on the board with a steal at the Owen Sound blue line and a short-handed goal as he beat Attack goalie Carter George through the legs on a breakaway.
Seven minutes and one second later, the Knights tied the game as Edmonton Oilers prospect William Nicholl came into the Owen Sound zone on the left side and found Blake Arrowsmith going to the net for Arrowsmith’s third goal of the season. The teams went to their respective dressing rooms tied 2-2 through 20 minutes.
London came out with a couple of strong shifts to begin the second period and moved out in from on Oliver Bonk’s first goal in his first game of the season. Julien found Bonk in the slot and he ripped a shot into what was basically an empty net as George had moved to try to see around a pile of people in front.
That goal made the score 3-2 London but the lead lasted all of 40 seconds as Ben Cormier flew in across the Knights blue line on the right side and wristed home his first goal of the season and the game was even again.
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Owen Sound seemed to go in front on what would have been his second of the game and year with just a tenth of a second remaining on the clock at the end of the second period.
Cormier fired a puck from the slot through a pile of people and into the London net but one of those people was Owen Sound first-rounder Pierce Mbuyi, who was on top of Knights goaltender Alexei Medvedev.
After a review, the goal was disallowed and the score sat 3-3 going to the third.
The teams traded power-play goals in the final 20 minutes.
Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson blasted a one-timer past George at the 2:50 mark on a London man advantage to give the Knights a 4-3 lead.
The score stayed that way until a late Owen Sound power play when big Attack defenceman Konnor Smith deflected a shot into the London net with less than two minutes remaining to send the game to overtime.
The Knights weathered some early Attack possession, made a line change and Julien found O’Reilly going to the net for the game-winner.
London outshot Owen Sound 42-29.
The Knights played the game without forward Van Gorp and defenceman Alec Leonard, who both missed the game with upper-body injuries.
Both players are listed as day-to-day.
Knights on NHL opening night rosters
The Canadian Hockey League is called the best developmental hockey league in the world. It produces more professional hockey players than any other league on the planet. Averaged out, each major junior team should have between seven and nine former players on NHL rosters at any given time. The Knights have been bucking that trend for years.
In 2024-25, a total of 25 former Knights players find themselves on NHL teams to start the year: John Tavares (Tor), Mitch Marner (Tor), Anthony Stolarz (Tor), Max Domi (Tor), Christian Dvorak (Mtl), Josh Anderson (Mtl), Patrick Kane (Det), Olli Maatta (Det), Andreas Athanasiou (Chi), Patrick Maroon (Chi), Adam Boqvist (Fla), Matthew Tkachuk (Fla), Evan Bouchard (Edm), Corey Perry (Edm), John Carlson (Wsh), Connor McMichael (Wsh), Nazem Kadri (Cgy), Paul Cotter (NJ), Luke Evangelista (Nsh), Michael McCarron (Nsh), Bo Horvat (NYI), Max Jones (Bos), Nikita Zadorov (Bos), Robert Thomas (StL), Vladislav Namestnikov (Wpg).
You could also add Vladislav Kolychonok to the list (he played one game in London in 2018-19 before being traded to Flint to get London down to two import picks).
Up next
As the home of the Knights officially becomes Canada Life Place on Friday, London will host the Barrie Colts at 7 p.m.
The game will come exactly 22 years after the first-ever event at the downtown arena, which opened on Oct. 11, 2002 as the Knights edged the visiting Plymouth Whalers 5-4.
London will host the Guelph Storm on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Both games can be heard on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio app and the Radioplayer Canada app.
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