Jeremiah Addison’s second goal of the game at 15:06 of overtime gave the Windsor Spitfires a 4-3 win over the London Knights in Game 1 of their first round playoff series.
The game marked an end to 357 consecutive days without a loss in a playoff or Memorial Cup game or a playoff loss at Budweiser Gardens.
London got the jump on the Spitfires in the first period. A high stick into the face of Mitchell Stephens put the Knights on the power play early against the OHL’s top penalty kill in the regular season. The Spitfires killed off 89.5 per cent of opposition man advantages.
The Knights set up and worked a puck around to open sticks and created two good scoring chances, but both were denied by Windsor goalie Michael DiPietro.
The opening goal of the series came not on a set play but on a bit of a surprise shot as Olli Juolevi came cruising across the Spitfires’ blue line and wristed a bullet high and inside the post to put London ahead.
The first period contained two more power plays for the Knights and one for Windsor and none of them produced a goal.
Windsor produced their first of the series early in the second period. They held the puck in the London zone, tiring out the Knights’ defenders on the ice and then got a break as a pass hit a stick and bounced right to Canadiens’ prospect Addison, who put the puck past Tyler Parsons to tie the game.
Windsor built momentum after that goal, but the Knights and Parsons kept the puck out of the London net and then Victor Mete swung things back the Knights’ way.
The third-year defenceman jumped into the rush to create a 3-on-2 and grabbed the puck in the Spitfires’ end, raced behind the net and banked a shot in off DiPietro to put the Knights back in front 2-1.
Windsor drew even a second time on a power play as Logan Brown and Gabe Vilardi combined to set up Aaron Luchuk to the left of the London net and he flipped a shot high to tie the score for a second time.
Luchuk gave the Spitfires the lead 1:31 into the third period and time wound right down to the final two and a half minutes. The Knights began to push with a whole lot of desperation and created chances in the Windsor end. With just over two minutes left, a shot went into a crowd and rolled out the other side and London forward Mitchell Stephens jammed it in to tie the game.
In overtime, the Knights could be credited with the majority of the big-time scoring chances, but it was Addison who found a seam through legs and sticks off a face-off at 15:06 of overtime and gave the Spitfires the series-opening victory.
The goalies combined to make 78 stops. Parsons was the busier of the two netminders, as he faced 47 Spitfire shots.
Mete led the way offensively for London with a goal and an assist. Gabe Vilardi had two assists for Windsor.
Game two takes place on Sunday afternoon at Budweiser Gardens. Broadcast time on AM 980 is 1:30 and there are still tickets available at 519-681-0800 x 1, at the Knights’ Armouries or online at http://www.londonknights.com
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