A wild three minutes and 28 seconds of overtime ended when Londoner Beckham Edwards scored for the Sarnia Sting and gave his team a 3-2 win over the London Knights at the Progressive Auto Sales Area to begin 2025.
Moments before the goal by Edwards the Knights had been denied on a 3-on-1 and London goaltender Aleksei Medvedev stopped the Sting on their second two-man breakaway of the afternoon.
Edwards’ goal came on the man advantage and was one of three power play goals in the game.
Third period goals by Sam O’Reilly and Denver Barkey of the Knights erased a 2-0 Sarnia lead.
Dylan Luecke scored the lone goal of the opening period on a breakaway at 11:10 to put the Sting in front.
After limiting Sarnia to just one shot in the first 13:47 of the second period a puck popped into the slot in the London zone and Daylen Moses found it and scored to make it 2-0 Sting.
Before the end of the middle period Knights defenceman Andoni Fimis was cross-checked in the face by Tyson Doucette of Sarnia.
Doucette received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.
London did not score on that power play but they did on another at the 6:53 mark of the third period as Sam O’Reilly snapped a shot past Nick Surzycia for his 15th goal of the season.
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Barkey and Henry Brzustewicz of the Knights picked up the assists.
Barkey then tied the game with 1:45 remaining in regulation with the London net empty
Barkey now has nine goals and 24 assists for 33 points in his last 11 games against the Sting.
That set the stage for a back-and-forth overtime and Edwards eventual winner.
Rene Van Bommel was hit by Ruslan Karimov after making a play in the first period and Van Bommel went hard into the left corner boards in the Sting end. Van Bommel was helped off the ice and did not return.
The teams each record 31 shots on goal.
The Knights were 2-for-4 on the man advantage.
Sarnia was 1-for-3.
Patrick Kane records his 1300th point
In his only season with the London Knights in 2006-07 Patrick Kane recorded 145 points in 58 games and then put up 31 more in just 15 playoff games. His performance vaulted him to the number one overall selection in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks where he would help to lead the team to three Stanley Cup championships. Now Kane has another number in sight.
After recorded a goal and an assist in a Red Wings win over Washington on Dec. 29 to reach 1300 career points, Kane finds himself 74 points behind Mike Modano and 91 points back of Brett Hull for highest-scoring American-born National Hockey Leaguer ever.
Up next
There are two teams who the Knights have yet to face this season. One is the Sudbury Wolves and the other is the Niagara IceDogs.
London will check one of those off the list on Friday, Jan. 3 when they host Niagara at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place.
The IceDogs are experiencing a revival this year after three seasons of finishing in last place overall in the OHL’s 20-team league.
Niagara has not finished higher than 19th overall since 2018-19.
So far 2024-25 has been very different.
Led by Londoner Ryan Roobroeck who has 52 points in 36 games as a 17-year old the IceDogs have been in the mix for fiorst place in the Eastern Conference and even held top spot heading into the holiday break.
There are three former Knights on the Niagara roster in Blake Arrowsmith, Mike Levin and Mathieu Paris.
Paris is back playing after missing two months with a knee injury but has heated up with seven points in his past four games.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
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