The Niagara Ice Dogs doubled up the London Knights 4-2 on Thursday night in St. Catharines.
It was one of those games where you had to take a second look at the scoreboard to believe the score.
London outshot Niagara 32-18 and had far better chances to score all game.
Cliff Pu, Sam Miletic and Alex Formenton were denied more than once on breakaways and chances in tight.
But as London assistant coach Rick Steadman points out, it was the Ice Dogs who managed to put their opportunities into the net.
“We had a couple of chances early to tie it up after they went ahead,” Steadman said after the game. “We had really good looks and (Stephen) Dhillon played really well tonight.”
The Knights had been on a pretty good roll, winning six of their past eight heading into the game against the Ice Dogs and Steadman says it is actually a bit of a help that they have another game right away.
“It gives the guys that bounce-back game. You can forget about this game and do the things you need to do against Peterborough. You can clear your mind and just go and play hockey.”
The game between the Knights and the Petes will be their first this season.
How the goals were scored
Robert Thomas showed why he is on Team Canada’s radar in the first period as he took a feed at the side of the Niagara net and in one motion moved the puck in front and slid it under Ice Dogs’ goaltender, Stephen Dhillon to put London ahead 1-0 early.
Niagara tied the game as their captain, Johnny Corneil guided a centering pass behind Joseph Raaymakers, who was making his 18th consecutive start in the Knights net.
The Ice Dogs went ahead on a power play as they blasted away from all angles until Akil Thomas got one through and the first period ended with Niagara on top, 2-1.
Oliver Castleman scored on a rebound just 43 seconds into the second period, just as an Ice Dogs’ power play had ended.
Just a couple of minutes later, Niagara appeared to score again as Ben Jones ripped a high shot over Raaymakers, which prompted Knights head coach, Dale Hunter to make a goaltending change. The goal was eventually reviewed and it was determined that the play was offside, so the goal came off the scoreboard and the game stayed 3-1 for more than a period.
With London coming in waves as the third period rolled along, Max Jones of the Knights snapped a shot past Dhillon to get London within a goal, but after a power play produced chances, but no goals, Kirill Maksimov scored into an empty net to complete the 4-2 score.
World Junior shot
Team Canada’s final selection camp roster was announced on Wednesday and includes Knights’ captain Robert Thomas and second-year forward Alex Formenton. They will be joined by Londoner Nick Suzuki who plays for the Owen Sound Attack from Dec. 12 to 15 at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
Max Jones of the Knights was also named to Team USA’s preliminary roster.
Dale Hunter to be honoured
When Robert Thomas scored in overtime to give London a 3-2 win over North Bay, Knights’ head coach, Dale Hunter reached another milestone behind the bench with his 700th regular season victory. London will hold a pre-game ceremony prior to their game on Friday against Peterborough to recognize the accomplishment.
Up next
The Knights are right back in action on Friday at home at 7:30 at Budweiser Gardens for their first meeting of the year with the Petes. Peterborough is third in goals for in the Eastern Conference but have been battling to stay above .500. They are led by Edmonton Oilers’ prospect, Dylan Wells in goal and Florida Panthers’ draft pick, Jonathan Ang up front. Ang will join Thomas, Formenton, Suzuki and the rest of the Team Canada, World Junior hopefuls for next week’s final selection camp. The Petes came back to beat Sudbury 5-4 in overtime on Thursday. The win snapped a two-game losing skid.
Coverage of London and Peterborough will get going at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
Comments