London is off to a good start this season, as the Knights beat the Kitchener Rangers 6-2 at Budweiser Gardens on Saturday afternoon.
Sahil Panwar kicked off the scoring at 6:28 of the first period with a goal that seemed to re-ignite some of the momentum the Knights had built late in the third period on Friday night.
Panwar’s goal was his first in the Ontario Hockey League and also the first time this season that London has scored first in a home game.
London’s Billy Moskal also netted another goal before the end of the first period.
The Knights showed off their speed and energy throughout the game, responding well to everything their opponents seemed to throw at them.
London had a strong offence, scoring once on the power play, once short-handed and four times at even strength. The Knights were led by two goals from Connor McMichael, three assists from Adam Boqvist, two from Matthew Timms and a goal and an assist each from Matvey Guskov and Cole Tymkin.
London also limited Kitchener’s offence to just 15 shots through two periods.
Knights goalie Jordan Kooy made 23 saves for his fourth win of the season.
How the goals were scored
Panwar showed just how high his hockey IQ is as he fired a puck at the Rangers net. The puck missed, going wide and hitting the end boards, but before anyone else could react, Panwar tracked the puck down as it bounced out to the left side.
Moskal made it 2-0 London at the 12:04 mark of the opening period by kicking a puck to his stick in front and sliding it behind Kitchener goalie Luke Richardson.
Tymkin slammed in his fifth goal of the season at 9:14 of the second period during a power play, as he battled for a rebound off a shot by Boqvist in front of the Rangers net.
Joseph Garreffa got Kitchener on the board just over a minute later, but Moskal and McMichael combined to restore London’s three-goal lead. With the Knights killing a penalty, Moskal found McMichael and deked his way to his eighth goal of the year, bringing the score to 4-2.
The Rangers scored just 54 seconds into the third period on a deflection by Jonathan Yantsis.
London responded just as they had after the first Kitchener goal. Nathan Dunkley took the puck to the Rangers net and found a way to get past Kitchener goaltender Lucas Pfeil, giving the Knights a 5-2 advantage.
McMichael finished the scoring with his second of the afternoon and ninth of the season, set up by Guskov and made possible thanks to a great outlet pass from Boqvist, who recorded his third assist of the day on the play.
Alex Formenton in purple
Formenton was back at practice with the Ottawa Senators on Friday, wearing a purple “don’t hit this guy” jersey. Formenton was placed on injured reserve with a concussion on Oct. 12. The King City native has played in four games this year and is still looking for his first NHL point.
Formenton can play nine games total before the first year of his contract kicks in. Ottawa must determine whether they feel he is ready to be in the NHL or return him to the Knights. He cannot be assigned to the American Hockey League.
Ex-Knights in the AHL
It’s hard to watch an NHL game without coming across a former Knight. There were 28 former London players on NHL teams to begin the 2018-19 season. There were also 22 ex-Knights in the American Hockey League to start the year, and a few of them were putting up big numbers. Both Sam Gagner of the Toronto Marlies and Janne Kuokkanen of the Charlotte Checkers were among the top 20 in scoring through the first three weeks, and Dakota Mermis of the Tucson Roadrunners had the best plus-minus.
Berisha and St. Mary’s off to hot start
Former London Knight Aaron Berisha has four goals and six points in his first six games, helping the St. Mary’s Huskies to a 5-1 start in USports hockey. The Huskies lost for the first time this season, a defeat that was especially tough for Berisha because it came against his brother, Beni, and the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers. Beni will own family bragging rights until the teams meet again next Friday.
The University of New Brunswick is now the final unbeaten team in Atlantic Canada. Strathroy native Noah Carroll plays for UNB.
Up next
The London Knights will finish their second straight weekend of three games in 46 hours when they travel to Sarnia for a 2 p.m. start against the Sting on Sunday. Sarnia has just one win in their past seven games, and keeping the puck out of their net has been one of the team’s biggest issues. The Sting have given up an average of 5.2 goals per game during that stretch.
The Knights won a wild 7-6 game in overtime on Oct. 12.
The pre-game show begins at 1:30 on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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