A four-goal first period paced the Soo Greyhounds to a 6-3 win over the London Knights at the GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Friday night.
Owen Allard stayed red-hot for the red-clad Greyhounds with two goals giving him five in his past three games. Rory Kerins also scored twice for Sault Ste. Marie who defeated the Knights for the first time this season in the first meeting between the teams that did not feature a combined 10 goals or more.
This time, the teams only scored nine. In three games they have totalled 33 tallies.
Kerins got the scoring started just 41 seconds in when he stole a puck at the London blue line and snapped a shot past Brett Brochu to make it 1-0.
Allard spun and scored to make it 2-0 at 6:46 of the opening period and the score stayed that way until Cody Morgan of London forced a puck out of a pile along the right side of the Greyhounds end and Sean McGurn tipped in a Gerard Keane shot for his 13th goal of the year.
Sault Ste Marie restored their two-goal lead when a Tyler Savard shot went wide and Kalvyn Watson chopped a puck from behind the net into the Knights crease where Allard forced the puck across the goal like to give the Greyhounds a 3-1 advantage.
A turnover at the Sault blue line led to a 2-on-1 late in the period and Kerins fed Tye Kartye and he flipped a shot high over Brochu to give the Greyhounds a 4-1 advantage through 20 minutes.
London forward Tonio Stranges fired a deflected shot and found the back of the Sault Ste. Marie net with just over four minutes remaining in the second period to get London within two, but London native Bryce McConnell-Barker knocked a puck into neutral ice and caught up to it creating a 2-on-1 that he scored on with a hard shot to the top corner of the Knight net at 18:58 of the middle frame and the Greyhounds headed to the third period again ahead by three.
Sault Ste. Marie did their best to keep London away from their net over the final 20 minutes, but London captain Luke Evangelista dangled his way in front and slipped the puck through the legs of Tucker Tynan with 2:40 to go in the game for his 38th goal in his 40th game. Evangelista leads the OHL in goals.
Kerins finished the scoring with an empty-netter at 18:27.
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The Knights managed to keep the top-ranked Sault Ste. Marie power play quiet all night. The Greyhounds were 0-for-5.
London went scoreless on both of their chances on the man advantage.
The final shots favoured the Sault 26-24.
Corey Perry at 400
Corey Perry is on some pretty exclusive lists. Stanley Cup winner. Olympic gold medallist (twice). World champion and World Junior champion. Memorial Cup champion. Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP.
It’s quite a list and there are still more things that could be included. On Feb. 23, Perry joined yet another exclusive group. Only 103 players have ever scored 400 career goals in the National Hockey League and Perry is now one of them. Fittingly, number 400 was scored at the edge of the crease as Perry went to the net and used his elite hand-eye ability to deflect a puck into the Edmonton Oilers net.
Scoring 400 goals puts Perry into the top 1.4 per cent of NHL players all-time.
The OHL scoring race… for goalies
When Brett Brochu rifled a pass up the left wing side of the ice against Owen Sound on Feb. 23 and when Landon Sim went to the net and scored Brochu collected his sixth assist of the season. Six assists? From a goalie. It doesn’t happen often but it has been done by two OHL goalies so far this season with lots of time remaining for more.
That pass to Sim tied Brochu with Josh Rosenzweig of the Niagara IceDogs for the assist lead among goaltenders. (No other OHL netminder has more than two).
According to Quant Hockey, Brochu and Rosenzweig are one assist away from accomplishing something only 10 goalies in league have ever done: a seven-assist season.
The record is actually nine and is held by London, Ont., native Scott Dickie who set the mark with the Kitchener Rangers in 2001-02 when he broke Mike Torchia’s mark of eight set in 1991-92. Torchia also played for Kitchener.
Former Knights goalie Steve Mason tied Tochia for second place all-time when he recorded eight assists in 2006-07.
Single-game tickets on sale
For the first time in 2022, fans can purchase tickets to see the London Knights play in person. The Knights return home to take on the Guelph Storm on March 2 in front of a Budweiser Gardens crowd that can be filled to capacity.
London’s last two home games have been played in front of 4500 season ticket holders.
Single-game tickets can be purchased at the Knights Armouries, at 519-681-0800 or at www.londonknights.com.
Up next
The rematch. The Knights and Greyhounds will play the second of two in the Sault on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. The game will be the final meeting between the teams in the regular season.
London will host the Guelph Storm on March 2 at 7 pm at Budweiser Gardens.
Coverage of the game between London and the Greyhounds will begin at 6:30 pm on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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