Evan Van Gorp set up three goals and Aleksei Medvedev stopped 37 of the 38 shots he faced as the London Knights defeated the Firebirds 4-1 in Flint, Mich., on Dec. 29.
The win, London’s fourth in a row, ended the Firebirds’ five-game winning streak.
The game marked the halfway mark of the Knights’s 2024-25 schedule; they currently sit in the top spot in overall OHL standings with a record of 28 wins and six losses.
The teams zoomed all over the ice in the first period but failed to find the back of the net thanks to the work of the goaltenders.
Medvedev was back inside the building where he earned his first Ontario Hockey League victory on Sept. 29, 2024, and he looked right at home as he made 12 stops through the first 20 minutes.
Edmonton Oilers prospect Nathan Day made nine saves at the other end of the ice.
London played the game without five regulars who are away at the World Junior Hockey Championship. They were also without Will Nicholl and Logan Hawery who missed the game due to illness.
Noah Aboflan got the scoring started four minutes and 16 seconds into the second period as he tipped in a Cam Allen shot for his third of the year.
Allen now has six points in three games as a Knight.
Andoni Fimis scored his first Ontario Hockey League goal at 4:07 of the third period to make it 2-0 for London.
A little under eight minutes later Van Gorp found Henry Brzustewicz coming late on a play and fed him the puck. Brzustewicz walked in, deked Day and scored the Knights’s third goal of the game.
Just 13 seconds later Blake Montgomery spun the puck out of the corner and zipped a pass to P.J. Fagan and the London defender snapped his second goal of the season behind Day to give the Knights a 4-0 lead.
Connor Clattenburg scored Flint’s lone goal with 1:47 remaining to close out the scoring.
London was 0-for-3 on the man advantage but killed off five Firebird power plays including a 5-on-3 late in the third period.
Knights blue line leads OHL offensively
Coming out of the holiday break London Knights defenders have combined for more points than any other OHL D-corps. According to CHL stats wizard Geoffrey Brandow, the Knights’ defencemen have put up 122 points. The next best crews come from Oshawa and Windsor at 97 points. Kingston’s D-men have combined for 92 points while Ottawa’s round out the top five with 91.
Sam Dickinson has been super this season. He has 15 goals and 46 points in just 26 games. His Team Canada teammate Oliver Bonk has 24 points in 22 games and Henry Brzustewicz has had a big offensive year with 20 points thus far.
The addition of Cam Allen will only increase the Knights’ abilities from the back end.
Up next
London and Sarnia’s annual pair of games to end the old year and begin the new one returns as they meet on New Year’s Eve at Canada Life Place and New Year’s Day at the progressive Auto Sales Area.
This will be the first time since 2017-18 that this home-and-home series has fallen on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 and the first time since 2019-20 that the teams have played each other at the end of one calendar year and the beginning of another.
London is 25-5-3 all-time in the New Year’s home and home. There was also one tie between the teams back in 2002-03.
The Knights are 18-0-2 in the past 20 New Year’s meetings.
Coverage will start at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.