Queenstown, New Zealand is the home of the Nevis Swing. It’s the biggest swing in the world, with a 300-metre arc. People come from all over the world to take a ride.
On Friday night in Kitchener, the London Knights almost made that swing look very ordinary.
London erased a four-goal deficit for the second time this season, coming back to beat the Rangers 5-4 in regulation time. The Knights fell behind 5-1 in Owen Sound in February and won that game 7-6 in a shootout.
Even though London was missing eight regulars that afternoon, the game against Kitchener somehow seemed tougher to pull off.
The Knights began their comeback against the Attack with more than half a game to go. Against the Rangers, they didn’t need quite as long.
With one second to go in the second period, London was down 4-0. A split-second later, Evan Bouchard had his team on the board. The second-year defenceman banked a puck off the back of Kitchener goalie Luke Richardson on a power play.
London came out determined in the third period, building on some of the success they had controlling the puck down low in the Rangers’ zone late in the second period. Just over four minutes had ticked off the clock when Robert Thomas got the puck behind the Kitchener net, threw off the Ranger defence with a head fake and slid a pass to a charging Victor Mete coming in on the left side. Mete picked a tiny spot on the short side and the Knights were down by two.
Sixteen seconds after the puck dropped at centre ice, Kitchener rookie Riley Damiani was whistled for holding and London’s power play went to work. Mete and Mitchell Stephens combined to set up captain J.J. Piccinich for his 22nd goal of the year, and the Rangers’ lead was down to one.
The Rangers seemed rattled as Stephens got the puck to Mete and he fed Sam Miletic, who found himself on a breakaway as coverage broke down. Miletic buried a shot to the glove side of Richardson and the Knights were celebrating a tied game.
As much as the momentum had swung right around, the game settled into a bit of a chess match after that.
As the final minute of play was announced, the game seemed destined for overtime.
That’s when London made another push into the offensive zone. They worked the puck around until it found Cliff Pu in the slot and he backhanded the game-winning goal into the Rangers’ net.
The victory keeps the Knights ahead of both Sault Ste. Marie and Owen Sound. The Greyhounds beat the Storm in Guelph, so they remain one point back, but may be able to clinch the second seed in the Western Conference by winning their division. The Attack are now three games back of London.
A 10-1 win by Erie over Niagara improved their record on home ice to 28-0-1-2 and leaves them four points ahead of the Knights. Both teams have eight games remaining and two of those will be head-to-head.
London’s comeback overshadowed another big story for the team as Tyler Parsons returned to the Knights’ crease after missing time with an upper-body injury and the flu.
Greg Meireles and Connor Bunnaman scored first-period goals on Parsons. Darby Llewellyn took advantage of a turnover and some dogged work by Bunnaman, who stayed on a puck in the second and fed Llewellyn to put Kitchener ahead by four goals at 14:38 of the second period.
Parsons ended the game with 22 saves on 26 shots, but more importantly made a huge stop on Cedric Schiemenz in the second and a big pad stop on Adam Mascherin in the third, giving his teammates a chance to work some magic.
London goes to Windsor on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. to round up six games out of seven on the road. The pregame show begins at 3:30 on AM 980.
The Knights return to Budweiser Gardens on March 9 against Guelph. They host Erie on March 10.
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