The Sarnia Sting scored three times in the first period and held on to beat the London Knights 4-2 on Friday night at Budweiser Gardens.
The Sting got off to a quick start, scoring the first goal of the games 25 seconds after the opening faceoff and led by three goals after the first period.
From there, the game took a turn. London outshot Sarnia 37-10 through the final 40 minutes and put three pucks past Sting goalie Justin Fazio. One of those rang off the crossbar on an Alex Formenton shot with less than three minutes remaining. The loss ended the Knights’ six-game winning streak, but London still holds their fate in their own hands.
If the Knights pick up wins in Saginaw on Saturday night and in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday they will secure home ice advantage in their first round series against the Owen Sound Attack.
Owen Sound will finish their schedule on Saturday against Sarnia. A loss by the Attack would mean that London could clinch fourth place in the West with one win.
The game against the Sting was the Knights’ final home game of the regular season. Overagers Tyler Rollo of Burlington and Shane Collins of Rosetown, Sask., were honoured before puck drop.
London went 18-13-2-1 at Budweiser Gardens this year.
How the goals were scored
The Sting got on the board just 25 seconds into the game as Anthony Salinitri carried across the London blue line and dropped a pass to Drake Rymsha who fired a shot into the Knight net for his 31st goal of the season.
Sarnia struck again on their second power play of the game as their captain, Jordan Kyrou sent a seeing-eye wrist shot through traffic to put him one goal away from 40 on the season.
A Maple Leafs prospect and a Canadiens prospect combined to make it 3-0 for the Sting at 16:43 of the first period as Ryan McGregor (6th round – Toronto in 2017) sent a pass ahead to Michael Pezzetta (6th round – Montreal in 2016) and he found Sean Josling going to the net. Josling nabbed the pass and backhanded a shot behind London goaltender Joseph Raaymakers and the Sting took a three-goal lead to the dressing room at the end of 20 minutes.
The Knights were outshot 14-5 in the first period but turned the tables and then some in the second. London outshot Sarnia 18-5 and were rewarded at 11:13 when Londoner Alex Turko knocked in a rebound in front of the Sting net to make it 3-1.
Tyler Rollo got the Knights to within a goal as they continued a big push in the final period. Off a faceoff, the puck hit a leg and lay still in the Sarnia zone before Rollo found it and quickly snapped home his tenth goal of the season to make it 3-2 with 6:29 to go in the game.
Anthony Salinitri restored Sarnia’s two-goal lead 1:11 later as he banged in his own rebound at the side of the London net to finish the scoring.
Before the game was over, Alex Formenton hit a crossbar in the final three minutes and Salinitri slid a puck off the post on an empty net chance.
Road Warriors
As the Knights finish their regular season schedule, they will have an opportunity to add to what has been an outstanding road record in 2017-18. London is one of just five teams to reach 20 wins away from home and begin their final road trip with a 20-11-0-1 record away from Budweiser Gardens. London won their first game of the year in Saginaw back in September.
Clinchers
The Kingston Frontenacs wrapped up third place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion. The Niagara Ice Dogs clinched the fourth seed in the East as they doubled up the Otters in Erie by a score of 6-3 and the Oshawa Generals lost to the Peterborough Petes and that guarantees that they will finish in fifth place. Oshawa and the Ice Dogs will meet in round one.
Plus Plus
The Soo Greyhounds have put together one of the best seasons in OHL history. With one game to go, they have a record of 54-7-3-3. For awhile, they were within reach of two of the records set by the 2004-05 London Knights. The Knights recorded 120 points that year and lost just seven times in regulation. The Greyhounds can still tie that mark. Ironically, it will be London that has the last chance to hand Sault Ste. Marie their eighth defeat on Sunday afternoon. One individual record could fall and actually may have been broken already. Soo forward Morgan Frost is a plus-70 on the year. Former Knights captain Danny Syvret holds the OHL record at plus-69. It was set in 04-05.
Up next
The Knights head north to finish the 2017-18 regular season in Saginaw on Saturday night and in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday afternoon. Both games can be heard on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app. The pregame show begins at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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