Three wins by the London Knights.
Three wins by the Guelph Storm.
One game left to decide a winner in their Western Conference semi-final series.
The Storm survived for the third game in a row with a 5-3 victory over the Knights on Saturday at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph.
Two goals in the final three minutes of the second period turned a one-goal London lead into a one-goal Storm advantage and Guelph managed to hold serve the rest of the way.
London came out with a strong push to start the third, but Domenico Commisso took away some of that early momentum when he scored a third straight goal for the Storm. The Knights outshot Guelph 17-10 in the final period.
Adam Boqvist scored seven seconds into London’s only power play of the night for his league-leading 10th goal of the playoffs, but for the second night in a row, Nick Suzuki iced the game with an empty-netter. Suzuki recorded his third consecutive multi-point game with a goal and two assists.
Guelph went 0-for-4 on the power play, but took advantage of two late calls against the Knights that helped them to tick time away.
The teams will meet Tuesday in a Game 7 in a winner-take-all to advance to the Western Conference finals.
The goals
Liam Foudy opened the scoring with a well-placed shot through a bit of a screen as he stick-handled across the Guelph blue-line and put the puck low to the glove-side on Anthony Popovich. The goal came 3:30 into the first period.
Londoner Isaac Ratcliffe tied the game 7:01 into the second period as he used his deft hands at the side of the net to grab a puck and slice it over Jordan Kooy of the Knights to make it 1-1.
Joey Keane went ’round and ’round the Guelph zone, carrying the puck through a revolution and a half before chipping it across the high slot to Billy Moskal, who stepped into a slap-shot that went high over the shoulder of Popovich and restored a one-goal London lead.
Once again, Guelph tied the game as veteran Storm defenceman Jack Hanley wristed a puck at the net where it hit a body in front and went in.
Before the horn could end the second period, Guelph took a 3-2 lead as Sean Durzi cruised into the slot, took a pass from behind the net from Nick Suzuki and fired a shot high and past the outstretched glove of Kooy. The goal came with 18 seconds to go.
Domenico Commisso snapped a shot off the post, off of Kooy and in just 1:50 into the third period to extend the Storm lead to 4-2.
Adam Boqvist scored right off a face-off on a London power play at 5:09 on a wrister from the top of the right circle that made it 4-3.
Suzuki scored into an empty net on a shot from just outside the Guelph blue line to complete the 5-3 score with 1:37 remaining in the game.
Another Goaltender of the Year award for Houser
Former Knight Michael Houser finished his Ontario Hockey League career with a whole lot of hardware. He was named OHL Goaltender of the Year and also won the Red Tilson Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s Most Outstanding Player. This year, Houser has been recognized as Goalie of the Year in the ECHL after posting big-time numbers with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Houser had a .922 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average during the 2018-19 regular season in helping Cincinnati to the league’s best record.
The other series
Sault Ste. Marie forced Game 6 with the Spirit with a 6-2 win on Friday night in Saginaw. Morgan Frost scored three times and added an assist to pick up a combined seven points in 24 hours in keeping the Greyhounds alive on back-to-back nights. Saginaw still leads that series three games to two. Game 6 is Sunday night in Sault Ste. Marie.
Oshawa got goals from Cole Resnick, Nando Eggenberger and Daniil Antropov and 36 saves from Kyle Keyser in a 3-1 victory over the Niagara Ice Dogs in St. Catharines on Saturday. The Generals lead the series three games to two and will return home for Game 6 on Monday.
Ottawa advanced to the third round of the OHL playoffs with a triple-overtime win on Thursday that gave the 67’s a four-game sweep over the Wolves. The game was the longest in 67’s history and was won on a power-play goal by Tye Felhaber at 10:15 of the third overtime period.
Up next
Game 7 between the Knights and the Storm on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
The puck will drop just after 7 p.m. and you will be able to hear the game beginning at 6:30 with the pre-game show on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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