Max Jones scored twice in a third period eruption as the London Knights downed the Attack 4-1 in Owen Sound on Saturday.
The teams spent the first 40 minutes flying end to end without either one hitting the scoreboard but things changed in the third period.
They were still racing back and forth, but pucks started finding the back of the net. Sam Miletic had a goal and an assist for the Knights and says that kind of a game is just fun.
“That was a great game. Both teams created chances all the way through. They played well, we just managed to bury our chances in that last period.”
The win gives the Knights 11 out of a possible 14 points over their past seven games and moves them into a share of 8th place in the Western Conference.
Knights assistant coach Rich Steadman says it was good to see London come out hard after a disappointing overtime loss at home on Friday to the Saginaw Spirit.
“Our persistence was the difference,” Steadman outlined. “We battled. We were good on the penalty kill and went to the net and were able to bang in a couple of pucks. We got through adversity when it presented itself. It was a good effort.”
The Knights outshot Owen Sound 27-25.
The win evened their six-game series at a victory apiece after Owen Sound grabbed an overtime victory in London in October.
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How the goals were scored
All five of them came in the third period.
Owen Sound started the scoring as second-year forward Aiden Dudas knocked in a Cole Cameron shot at 2:22 to the Attack ahead 1-0.
That lead held for just over six minutes when Alex Formenton carried the puck across the Owen Sound blue line on the left side and dropped a pass to Max Jones. Jones took a couple of strides and wired a shot over the shoulder of Zach Bowman for his seventh goal of the year and then celebrated with a glove scoop along the ice.
That goal seem to ignite London as just under two minutes later, Knights’ captain Robert Thomas put his team ahead to stay with his 12th goal of the year. He found a puck in front of the Attack net, spun and fired it past Bowman and it was 2-1 London.
Jones scored his second of the game at 12:42 of the third as he rifled another puck at the Owen Sound net that went off Bowman’s blocker and into the air. Jones kept charging at the goal and that seemed to distract Bowman, who didn’t find the puck until it had dropped into the net behind him to put the Knights ahead 3-1.
With the Attack net empty and just over a minute to go in the game, Miletic wristed a puck in from the red line to record his fourth goal and complete the scoring.
Baffled on breakaways
Miletic and teammate, Tyler Rollo each had chances in alone in the second period on Attack goalie, Zach Bowman. Both stumbled bringing the puck across the blue line, righted the ship and got golden opportunities. Rollo chose to deke and Bowman got a right pad on his shot. Miletic elected to shoot as Bowman managed to fire out an arm and knock the puck away.
Londoner Ethan Szypula got in on a partial break in period number two and was stoned by Knights goalie Joseph Raaymakers.
In the third, Alex Formenton grabbed a puck away from Londoner, Nick Suzuki as Suzuki fell at the Knights’ blue-line and with his speed, the Senators’ draft pick had a three-zone breakaway but Bowman stopped him.
Raaymakers on the Attack
When Raaymakers was with the Soo Greyhounds in last year’s playoffs he stopped 206-of-220 Attack shots and was a big reason that the Greyhounds were able to turn the series into a long one. Owen Sound won it in six games and went on to face Erie in the Western Conference final. Raaymakers made 24 saves on 25 shots on Saturday, bringing his save percentage to .939 in his last seven games against the Attack.
Pu on the wing
Cliff Pu normally lines up at centre for the Knights but against the Attack, London head coach Dale Hunter chose to play him on right wing with Robert Thomas in the middle and Miletic on the left side. That line combined for two goals, three assists and 10 shots on goal.
Next up
The Knights now hit a quiet part of their schedule. Between November 5 and November 13, they will play just one game. It happens at Budweiser Gardens against the Flint Firebirds on November 10 at 7:30. London has played Flint once this season and walked away with an 8-2 victory.
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