Scoring goals was not easy for the London Knights through the first 10 games of 2017-18.
On Friday, London scored goals in just about every manner you can on their way to a 5-1 road win over the Kitchener Rangers.
The Knights cashed in on the power play, short-handed, at even strength and 4-on-4.
“It was a good effort,” said Knights’ assistant coach Dylan Hunter. “We scored on our opportunities, worked hard with a good forecheck and drew some penalties. Our penalty kill was good, too.”
Max Jones and Robert Thomas each scored their third and fourth goals of the season through the first 40 minutes and then Jones completed the hat trick in the third. Both players created some highlight reel stuff in the process.
The victory came following an excellent effort against Owen Sound in which the Knights came back in the third period and forced overtime against one of the top teams in the early going of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) season.
During the week, London added Alex Formenton after he was assigned to the Knights by the Ottawa Senators and also added Joseph Raaymakers in a trade with Sault Ste. Marie and seemed to carry some momentum and energy into the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium against the Midwest Division leading Rangers, looking to better their 1-8-1 start.
“It’s our job (as coaches) to make sure they don’t get down and think they aren’t doing the right things,” Dylan Hunter pointed out after the game. “If we aren’t getting scoring chances, then it’s an issue, but they were coming. Playing well defensively and then creating offence is something you just have to keep stressing.”
The Knights now have seven goals in their last two games and a bit of a swagger back in their step.
How the goals were scored
The first one came early. Evan Bouchard picked up the puck at his own blue line and spotted Max Jones heading toward the Kitchener end. Bouchard flipped the puck high in the air, and dropped it down two steps in front of Jones. The Anaheim Ducks’ draft pick took those steps, picked up the puck and seconds later, had the Ranger defence split the puck in behind Luke Richardson for a 1-0 London lead. The game was 1:11 old.
With the Knights killing a penalty later in the first period, Robert Thomas grabbed a puck at centre ice, came in across the Kitchener blue line on his off-wing and rifled a low-wrist shot into the Ranger net for London’s first short-handed goal of the season to put the Knights ahead by two.
Thomas is known for his hockey IQ, his defensive awareness and his ability to do the things that teams need to win games. In the second period, the Aurora native showed off another of his many dimensions. Thomas carried a puck into the Kitchener zone, put it through his own legs as he cut around a Ranger defenceman and then put the Knights up 3-0 by wristing a shot through Richardson.
Jones added his second goal of the game at 9:16 of the second period on a power play, executing a nifty give-and-go with Cole Tymkin that saw Jones score from his knees to make it 4-0.
Kitchener’s lone goal came off the stick of Londoner, Eric Guest who grabbed a puck that came off the stick of Joseph Raaymakers at the side of the Knight net and stuffed it in with 3:16 left in the middle period.
Jones completed his hat trick as a London power play was about to expire as he converted a feed from Cliff Pu off to the right of the Rangers’ net. Formenton picked up his first point in his first game of the year, getting the second assist.
Jumping in
There was no easing into a London uniform for Raaymakers. He made 11 saves in the first 10 minutes of the game and made key stops at key times when London’s defence tightened up and took some of the pressure off him. In all, an excellent debut. Raaymakers stopped 35 of 36 shots in all.
Confidence is no myth
The Knights were getting chances through the first 10 games of the season, but too often they weren’t going in. Shots were missing the net or finding a whole lot of the other team’s goalie. Jones said after the game that the third period against Owen Sound and all three periods in Kitchener were really important to restore confidence for a team that had theirs shaken.
“I think we had close to 30 chances last game. You get into those slumps and you really do squeeze your stick tight. (Against Kitchener) we played much more loose and that was exactly what we needed to do.”
Next up
London will be in Mississauga to face the Steelheads on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The pregame show will begin at 1:30 p.m. on AM980, at AM980.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app. The Knights return home on Friday, Oct. 27, against the Flint Firebirds.
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