The London Knights bounced back from a loss in Kitchener on Tuesday to beat the Guelph Storm 7-4 on home ice Thursday night.
Knights’ forward Cliff Pu started the scoring and led the way offensively all night by recording a goal and three assists.
“The first goal was a little bit lucky,” said the Buffalo Sabres prospect. “I wasn’t sure it was in at first and then I just saw it squeak through. We really moved the puck well tonight and executed well and now we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
The Knights are now right in the middle of one of their busiest stretches of the season, with four games in six days. It began with a 4-2 loss to the Rangers, but London showed a great deal of moxie in getting ahead and then staying ahead against the Storm, who cut the lead to a single goal in both the second and third periods.
“It’s nice to get that confidence back (after a loss),” pointed out London forward Max Jones. “It’s been an up and down year and right now we’re still just trying to click and find ways to win.”
Jones scored twice and played much of the game on a line with Pu and Knights’ captain Robert Thomas.
The victory moves London to within one point of the Erie Otters for seventh place in the Western Conference and to within four points of the Storm for sixth.
A tough start to the season saw the Knights go 1-8-1 out of the gate, but they are 7-2-1 since, giving London 15 out of a possible 20 points through their last 10 games.
Knights’ defenceman, Alex Regula says it is important to keep up that kind of a pace.
“Right now it’s really important for us to get points, especially at home where need to start playing better, so tonight was a great performance from all of us.”
London will look to carry that into Friday night against the visiting Saginaw Spirit, who edged the Knights 6-5 in overtime two weeks ago.
“Saginaw is a good team,” said Pu after the game. “They beat us last time, so we’ll be ready for sure.”
How the goals were scored
With the Knights killing a penalty in the first period, Pu stole a puck outside the Guelph blue line and went in on a short-handed breakaway. He shot glove side and at first it appeared that Storm goalie Anthony Popovich had made the save, but the puck rolled behind him and went across the goal line to give London a 1-0 lead.
Cedric Ralph of the Storm showed off his speed less than three minutes later as he tied the game with a rush down the right side, that saw Ralph cut to the net and lift the puck over Joseph Raaymakers of the Knights.
Jones put the Knights in front 2-1, deflecting an Evan Bouchard shot past Popovich at 13:32 of the opening period and then Alex Formenton scored his first of two on the night, as he stole a puck in the Storm end and then finished a give-and-go with Sam Miletic.
A power play goal by the OHL’s leading rookie scorer, Cam Hills cut the London lead to 3-2 with a power play goal early in the second period and the score stayed that way until Evan Bouchard hammered a shot into the Guelph net on a London man advantage with 7.1 seconds to go in the middle frame.
London increased their lead to three after another Formenton steal that set up Miletic just 1:32 into the third, but Guelph battled back with Mason Primeau’s first OHL goal and Ralph’s second of the game to push the score to 5-4 with just over five minutes remaining.
With just over two minutes left, Storm coach, George Burnett pulled his goalie and Jones and Formenton replied with empty netters to complete the 7-4 final.
Raaymakers on the rebound
Joseph Raaymakers made 31 saves in the game and earned his seventh victory in a London Knights’ uniform. He made his three biggest stops of the night on three separate rebound attempts by Storm shooters. The Chatham native currently sits third in the Ontario Hockey League with a goals against average of 2.59.
Two steals and two goals
It happened twice in the game. Formenton used his quickness and his reach to knock the puck away from Guelph defenders. The first time, he scored. The second time, he set up Sam Miletic.
Streaking
Miletic extended his point streak to five games with a goal and two assists in the game.
Next up
The Knights get less than 24 hours to rest up for their next opponent as the Saginaw Spirit arrive for a Friday night matchup. The Spirit sit two points back of the Knights in the Western Conference standings. The pre-game show gets going at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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