The boards at the J.D McArthur Arena inside the Harry Lumley Bayshore Arena in Owen Sound are known for their crazy bounces.
As the London Knights and the Owen Sound Attack opened their first-round playoff series on Thursday night, a bounce made the difference in a 5-4 Attack victory, but the boards had nothing to do with it.
With the teams tied 4-4 in the third period, Maksim Susko got his stick on a puck in behind the London net and chipped it in front. It went off Knights goalie Joseph Raaymakers and trickled across the goal line and the Attack held from there.
The game and the series got off to a fast and forceful start and it had just about everything. The intensity level was buoyed by a boisterous Owen Sound flavoured crowd of 2727.
The teams raced back and forth early. They had combined for six shots (three each) by the 2:17 mark of the opening period. By the 4:01 mark, the teams were tied 1-1.
There was a lot of extra-curricular activity early after whistles. As the game wore on, much of that disappeared.
Owen Sound outshot London 43-26 in the game.
How the goals were scored
London got the first one early. Knights captain Evan Bouchard sent a puck at the Attack net from the right point and it hit a leg and went right to Richard Whittaker and he put it underneath Olivier Lafreniere for a 1-0 London lead.
Owen Sound bounced right back with two goals on the power play. Alan Lyszczarczyk scored at 4:01 and then Kevin Hancock nabbed a puck right off a faceoff to begin an Attack man-advantage and ripped it high to make it 2-1 Owen Sound.
The Knights battled the game back to a 2-2 tie on a power play of their own. Alex Formenton’s shot from the left point hit off the goal post, off Lafreniere and rolled across the goal line at 8:55.
That furiousness subsided slightly, but Lyszczarczyk managed his second of the game with just over two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first period and the teams went to their dressing rooms after a bit of pushing and shoving with Owen Sound ahead by a goal.
Londoner Nick Suzuki put the Attack ahead 4-2 early in the second period, but the Knights pushed back and erased that two-goal deficit.
First, defenceman Jacob Golden took a nifty touch pass from Nathan Dunkley who put the puck where Golden was going and he wristed a shot over Lafreniere to get London within a goal.
Formenton tied the game on his second power-play goal of the game as he ripped a shot from the left side into the Attack net and through 40 minutes, the game was tied 4-4.
The game-winner was scored at the 2:54 mark of the third period on a bank shot by Maksim Sushko from behind the London goal.
Bouchard’s best
Evan Bouchard is garnering some of the biggest attention of any NHL draft-eligible prospect as he zooms up the rankings, but what Bouchard did in 2017-18 is going to be remembered for a long time in London. The Oakville native tied Rick Corriveau for most points ever in a single season by a Knights defenceman with 87. Bouchard logged more than 30 minutes of ice time most nights and scored 25 goals. Seven of those were game-winners and four came in overtime. Three of his OT winners were scored on the road. Bouchard also became the first London defenceman to lead a team in scoring and will get solid consideration for year-end OHL awards like the Max Kaminsky Trophy for Best Defenceman and the Red Tilson Trophy for Most Outstanding Player.
A cool share of a record
Morgan Frost had a sensational season for Sault Ste. Marie. The former fourth-round pick of the Greyhounds was one of four Ontario Hockey League players to top 100 points (he finished second in league scoring with 112) and he led the league in plus-minus at plus-70. The statistic has only been kept by the OHL since 1998-99, but Frost’s plus-minus was so good this year, he tied the record for best ever. It was set by new dad and former London Knights captain Danny Syvret in 2004-05.
Raaymakers in playoffs
Knights goalie Joseph Raaymakers put up outstanding playoff numbers for Sault Ste. Marie last season. He had a 1.95 goals against average and a .942 save percentage in 10 games with the Greyhounds. Six of those came against the Owen Sound Attack. Despite the fact that the Attack won the series, Raaymakers gave up just 14 goals in total.
Up next
The Knights and Attack will play Game 2 of their Western Conference quarter-final series on Saturday in Owen Sound. After that, the series will shift to London for Game 3 on Monday, March 26, and Game 4 on Thursday, March 29. All games can be heard on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.com and on the RadioPlayer Canada app.
Tickets to playoff games are on sale and can be purchased in person at the Knights Armouries off Talbot Street, by calling 519-681-0800 or by going to http://www.londonknights.com
Comments