Sean McGurn and Luke Evangelista each scored twice as the London Knights beat the Erie Otters 6-2 at Budweiser Gardens on Friday night.
The game saw the Knights give up the first two goals of the game and then score six unanswered to earn their third win in four games in 2022.
Evangelista and McGurn combined for eight points as both players had two assists as well.
McGurn now has 10 multi-point games this season. Evangelista has 15.
But the pair and their teammates had to overcome a pair of first-period Otter goals in the first nine minutes of the game by veterans Daniel D’Amato and Brendan Sellan. Sellan’s came on a power play and was the first of three consecutive goals on the man advantage in the game.
The second allowed Camaryn Baber to pick up his first goal as a Knight as he got to a puck that Logan Mailloux forced in front of the Erie net and snapped a shot in for London’s first goal of the game with just 2:16 remaining in the opening period.
That got the Knights rolling into the second period where they scored three times.
McGurn got two of those. The first came on a power play at the 5:26 mark as Stranges put a puck in front of the Otter net that McGurn got a stick on as he fell over and swept past Erie rookie goalie Marshall Nicholls to tie the game 2-2.
Isaiah George’s second career OHL goal gave London their first lead. Ruslan Gazizov took a pass from McGurn and fed the puck to George in the slot and he made no mistake to make it 3-2 for the Knights.
McGurn scored at 18:33 of the middle period as he followed a play to the Otters net and banged in a loose puck that popped in front.
Before the second period ended, Baber was called for a slew-footing major penalty as the veteran London forward attempted to stop an Erie player from getting to the Knight net.
The Knights held the Otters to just three shots in the middle frame.
Evangelista scored his 24th and 25th goals of the year in the third period. His second came after being on the ice for 1:41 of a 6-on-3 disadvantage with two London players in the penalty box and the Otters net empty.
Erie outshot the Knights 37-34 as Brett Brochu made 32 saves for his OHL-leading 19th victory.
Tonio Stranges and Ruslan Gazizov each had two assists in the game.
London is now 3-0 against the Otters this season.
Bob Martin back to the Olympics
The London Knights director of security, Bob Martin, will take part in his second Olympic Games.
Martin will be with Canada’s Men’s Hockey team in Beijing, China, beginning on Feb. 4. Martin has been a part of Team Canada at all kinds of levels from the World Junior Hockey Championship to the World Cup and World Championship. He was a member of the Team Canada contingent that went to Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.
Nazem Kadri added to all-star rosters
Londoner and former London Knight Nazem Kadri is having a career year. Kadri currently sits fifth overall in National Hockey League scoring with 51 points. He ranks second overall in assists behind only Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers with 36 helpers on the year.
The NHL began to stock their All-Star rosters this season by selecting one player from each of the 32 teams. Nathan MacKinnon was chosen from Kadri’s Colorado Avalanche and was critical of Kadri’s snub. Kadri will be a free agent at the end of the 2021-22 season.
Up next
After playing just three games during the first three weeks of January, the Knights are in the midst of playing three games in less than 24 hours.
London will kick off a home and home with the Guelph Storm on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. in Guelph, Ont. The teams will meet in London at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 23.
So far this season the Storm have won all three meetings with the Knights, edging London 4-3 in overtime at Budweiser Gardens and winning 3-2 and 4-1 at the Sleeman Centre.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 pm on Saturday on 980 CFPL, www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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