The matchup
Best two out of three?
The series is still the first one to four wins, but this is the third time the Knights and Otters have run into each other in the past three years.
In 2015, Erie rode Connor McDavid to a four-game sweep.
In 2016, London walked off the ice after the first period of Game 1 with a 4-1 lead and never looked back. The Knights won the series four-straight.
Welcome to the rubber match.
This is a series featuring two teams with high-end skill and enough experience up and down both rosters to make faces in Canada’s Senate look brand new.
Memorial Cup Champions, World Junior Medallists and OHL Cup winners will all figure prominently.
The season series
It began early with exhibition games in Clinton on Sept. 8 and London on Sept. 13.
There were six games between the clubs that counted in 2016-17.
London bookended a pair of victories around four Erie wins.
The first game came in September when the Knights were missing 12 players still away at NHL training camps.
Erie was without six regulars.
London won the game 6-2.
The teams met again on October 15 in Erie, in a game that was all Erie. The Otters won 7-1.
Then came a big break in the schedule.
The next meeting didn’t take place until Jan. 27 and saw the teams go into the final minute of the third period tied 3-3. A spin-around shot from the right point by Kyle Maksimovich was tipped in by Dylan Strome and the Erie went onto a 5-3 victory.
Two weeks later, the Otters won 5-1 at home and then returned to Budweiser Gardens on March 10, and held London’s offence to a single goal again in a 4-1 final.
The Knights got a final chance in Erie on March 14 and won. It marked the first time London went through an entire game with a full lineup. Tyler Parsons made 41 saves and Sam Miletic scored twice in a 3-2 victory.
Erie wound up with the advantage in the season series, but in the world of “What have you done lately?” the Knights own bragging rights.
Everyone goes into a game against Erie well aware that Alex DeBrincat can get shots away from anywhere at seemingly anytime. They know how dangerous the Team Canada trio of Dylan Strome, Taylor Raddysh and Anthony Cirelli can be and the addition of Warren Foegele from Kingston at the trade deadline has worked out very well.
The Otters feast on turnovers. They can strip pucks and go the other way in a hurry and they have the offensive ability to finish plays.
Their power play is dangerous and defensively, the Otters limit opposing chances very well.
They are a very complete team.
Troy Timpano was acquired from Sudbury before the season to be their No. 1 goalie. His save percentage ranked 15th overall during the regular season. The way the Otters play, Timpano is needed when called upon because he does not usually see a large workload during games.
The Otters are coming into Game 1 after an eight-day break.
The London Knights will have had 45 hours of rest when the puck drops at the Erie Insurance Arena.
London found themselves down 3-1 in their series with the Spitfires and then regrouped for three wins in a row by scores of 2-1, 5-3 with an empty netter and then 3-2 in Game 7.
They were pushed to the edge against Windsor and passed more than a few gut-checks in their comeback.
Janne Kuokkanen had a tremendous series for London, as did his linemates through the final two games, Robert Thomas and Mitchell Stephens.
The Knights seemed to find better and better chemistry within their forward units as the series wore on, their defence handled much bigger Windsor forwards and Tyler Parsons was dynamite in goal.
One more thing
London and Erie have met seven times since the Otters’ move from Niagara Falls.
The Knights hold the edge 4-3.
They have only gone to a seventh game once, in London’s return to the playoffs after missing in 1996 and 1997. The Knights won the first three games of that series. The Otters won the next three to tie it and London rebounded at the Ice House in Game 7 as Rico Fata scored a late goal from behind the net on Steve Valiquette to win it for London.
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