7:00 Budweiser Gardens
Broadcast: 6:30 AM 980 and http://player.am980.com
“They are a quick team, so we are going to have to keep the puck moving tonight. – Knights’ defenceman Nic Mattinen
Where the teams sit:
The Knights are coming off one of their toughest weekends on the schedule.
- Vs Erie (the Otters are battling with the Knights for first place)
- At Owen Sound (at the time the Attack had won 15 in a row)
- At Oshawa (at game time they were in 1st place in the Eastern Conference)
London came within 40.4 seconds of at least getting to overtime against the Otters. They overcame a 5-1 deficit and came back to beat the Attack 7-6 in a shootout. Then the Knights blanked the Generals 4-0 to end three games in three days on Sunday.
Those four points moved London back into a tie for 1st place overall with Erie. Both teams have 21 games remaining in the regular season.
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The Rangers have been alternating wins and losses for the last two weeks. Kitchener lost to one of the best in the west, one of the worst in the west and were Owen Sound’s first victim following the end of the Attack’s 15 game winning streak.
Mitchell Stephens helped to will London to their win in Owen Sound on Saturday. He had a hat trick and the shootout winner and then scored twice more in Oshawa.
Adam Mascherin (2G, 2A in 2 games) and Connor Bunnaman (3G, 1A in 2 games) have been hot for Kitchener.
The Knights played Saturday’s game without eight regulars thanks to injuries, the Top Prospects game and a nasty flu bug. Cliff Pu, Sam Miletic and Max Jones were back on Sunday. Victor Mete and Adrian Carbonara (both upper body) will likely remain as the only injured players missing tonight. Mete has been back skating, but is still wearing the yellow “Don’t-Hit-This-Guy” jersey. Knights’ GM Rob Simpson says he is due to be re-evaluated by doctors this week.
The season series so far:
London has won all three games by scores of 5-4, 4-3 and 6-2.
Outlook:
The Rangers traded with the future in mind at the deadline. Jeremy Bracco went to Windsor. Mason Kohn went to Oshawa. The deals brought in 18-year old forward, Cole Carter and 19-year old defenceman, Andrew Burns, plus draft picks.
Kitchener finds themselves in a similar position to Sarnia. They didn’t load up to compete with the five big dogs who have emerged in the Western Conference, but they are still dangerous.
They have speed and quickness, Mascherin sits second in league scoring and they are well coached.
The newest Knights are definitely feeling comfortable with the London systems and the team is gelling around them. They have spent all of five minutes with a full roster this season, so still having players out is not big news. A win would move them into sole possession of first place overall in the OHL standings, so they have extra incentive when the puck drops tonight.
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