Tyler Rollo scored twice for the London Knights as they defeated the visiting Mississauga Steelheads 3-1 on Saturday night at Budweiser Gardens.
The Knights utilized a solid, methodical game plan, getting a goal in each period and limiting the Steelheads to just 20 shots total. Joseph Raaymakers made his 23rd straight start in goal and made 19 saves. London put 23 pucks at former Knight Emanuel Vella at the other end of the ice.
London is now 16-6-1 since Oct. 15 and sit just three points back of the Windsor Spitfires for fourth place in the Western Conference. The Knights are bunched up with Windsor, Saginaw and Guelph. The four teams are all just three points apart in the standings.
How the goals were scored
If you are willing to take a hit to make a play in hockey, then you will make a lot of good plays.
Cole Tymkin of the Knights carried the puck across the blue line in the first period, saw a big wall of blue heading at him in the form of two Steelhead defenders and he held on long enough to slide a pass to Rollo before that wall reached him. Rollo had nothing but open space to look at and he took a stride and snapped a shot off the post and in to the stick side of Vella in the Mississauga net to make it 1-0 for the Knights.
London added to their lead in the second period thanks to Shane Collins’ first goal as a Knight. Cliff Pu managed to roll a puck into the slot while fending off a check and Collins was there to turn and fire it top corner past Vella and give London a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes.
Rollo scored his second of the game, short-handed, just one minute and 20 seconds into the third period. Liam Foudy forced a turnover in the Steelheads’ end and got a shot on goal. The puck bounced right to Rollo and he hammered it into the net to put the Knights ahead 3-0.
Mississauga made it to the scoreboard at 7:24 of the third period as Shaw Boomhower deflected a Keean Washkurak shot past Raaymakers for the last goal of the game.
Perfect penalty kill
Mississauga can put out some serious offense on the power play. The Knights dealt with the likes of Owen Tippett, Ryan McLeod, Trent Fox and Nic Hague for a total of ten minutes and killed off every second. London even scored short-handed.
Another Saskatchewan scorer
Shane Collins is already just the second Saskatchewan native to play for the London Knights and his goal against the Steelheads made him the second Saskatchewan native to score for London.
The first was Garnet McKechney who was born in Swift Current and then grew up in Thunder Bay. McKechney started his OHL career with the Kitchener Rangers and was acquired by then-Knights’ general manager Don Boyd.
McKechney played in 50 games for London, scored 26 goals and put up 49 points.
Greyhounds get to 20
Sault Ste. Marie’s win on Saturday wasn’t nearly as dramatic as their Friday victory that saw Keegan Howdeshell score the game winner in Kitchener with 2.9 seconds remaining in the game, but it gave the Greyhounds their 20th consecutive victory as they now head into their holiday break.
Morgan Frost scored twice and added two assists for Sault Ste. Marie in a 7-1 win in Guelph. The longest OHL winning streak belong to the 1983-84 Kitchener Rangers. They won 25 straight. The 2012-13 London Knights rank second all time with 24.
Up next
The Knights will get a shortened night’s sleep before getting on their team bus and heading north to Owen Sound for their final game before the holiday break. The Attack currently sit in eight place in the Western Conference and have hit some rough roads in November and December, going 6-8-1-1.
The game will be the fourth of six between the teams. The Attack won the first game in overtime in Owen Sound and London has won the two games played since by scores of 4-1 and 5-3.
The pre-game show will begin at 1:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980CFPL.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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