Evan Bouchard doesn’t sound like someone who might be able to call on the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.
Bouchard is not the most Irish-sounding name.
But thanks to a lineage that the captain of the London Knights can trace back through his family tree, he had all the Irish he needed to help him score the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over the Spirit in Saginaw on Saturday night.
Bouchard’s great-grandmother on his father’s side was from County Cork and was 100 per cent Irish.
Anyone who has watched the native of Oakville this season will know that Bouchard’s game rarely needs luck. He can make opposing players appear to be standing still. Give him a blink of a second and he’ll knock the puck off your stick. Start to lean one way and he’ll be by you on the other side.
After two late goals tied things in a game that London needed to win, Bouchard found a way to play hero yet again with his fourth overtime winner of the season.
His two points in the game leave Bouchard one point shy of Rick Corriveau’s London Knights record for points in a season by a defenceman. He is already poised to become the first London defenceman to lead the team in scoring in a single year.
The victory against the Spirit means the Knights still control their own fate. A win in their final game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon against the Soo Greyhounds will give them home ice advantage as they open the playoffs against Owen Sound. The Attack defeated Sarnia 9-4 in Owen Sound on Saturday.
How the goals were scored
Jake Goldowski got the first goal of the game on a second rebound as Joseph Raaymakers topped a shot from the right point off the stick of Reilly Webb and then shot out a leg to rob Goldowski on the first rebound, but the rookie forward held in and backhanded the puck over Raaymakers for his 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 Spirit lead.
A four-way passing play tied the game later in the first period as Alex Formenton of the Knights zoomed down left wing and turned along the left side boards across the Spirit blue line. He fed the puck across the ice to Evan Bouchard who zipped a pass to the side of the net to Cole Tymkin. The Rainy River native sent a pass across the crease to Tyler Rollo and he scored his second goal in two nights.
Alex Turko’s second in two games broke the tie at 9:26 of the second period as he converted a Nathan Dunkley feed from the left corner to make it 2-1 London.
Formenton gave the Knights breathing room just 36 seconds into the third period as he once again brought the puck into the Spirit zone on the left side, but instead of looking to pass, the Senators’ prospect ripped a wrist shot past New Jersey Devils’ prospect Evan Cormier, and it was 3-1 for the Knights.
The game stayed that way until late in the third when rookie Spirit defenceman Caleb Everett floated a puck into a crowd in front of the London net. The puck struck a leg and went right into an open side to cut the Knights’ lead to a goal at 16:22.
Saginaw tied the game 55 seconds later as Blade Jenkins wrapped a puck around the London net into sticks and legs at the edge of the crease and it went in. Damien Giroux was given credit and the game went to overtime, earning Saginaw an important point in the standings.
The Knights got the win in the end as Bouchard carried over the Spirit blue line and recognized that he had forward Mason Kohn in front of him. Bouchard crossed up Kohn with a move to his left and then sliced the game-winner over Cormier to keep London’s hopes of home ice advantage in their first-round series with Owen Sound alive.
Wearing the 4-5
For the second year in a row, London will play in arguably the most competitive series in the first round. Last year, the Knights fell behind three games to one to the Windsor Spitfires and came back to win in seven games and send the eventual Memorial Cup champions home for an extended break. No one will be surprised if London and the Attack wind up battling it out six or seven times before a winner is declared. London went 4-1-1 against Owen Sound during the regular season. The Attack won the first meeting between the teams in overtime by a score of 4-2. The Knights outscored them 17-8 in the four games that fell in between.
11 of 16 seeds set heading into the final day
There is still a lot to decide on the final day of the regular season. Along with the Knights and the Attack, Niagara and Hamilton will meet in round one of the post-season and so will Kingston and North Bay. That means five of the first eight series have question marks. Saginaw and Windsor will play head-to-head for a chance to avoid the Soo Greyhounds and play the Kitchener Rangers. Windsor still has a shot at catching Guelph for sixth place as well. In the Eastern Conference, Mississauga and Ottawa are tied for seventh. The Steelheads do own the tiebreaker against the 67’s and will finish their year at home to Kingston. Ottawa plays host to the Battalion.
Up next
One more game before the playoffs begin. The Knights will play the Greyhounds in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday. Win and they clinch fourth place and open their first-round series against the Owen Sound Attack at Budweiser Gardens next week. Lose in regulation, overtime or a shootout and the series will begin at the J.D. MacArthur Arena inside the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre. The pre-game show starts at 1:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca or on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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