The Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Mich., always has fans smelling the candied almonds that are roasted inside.
On Wednesday night, fans might have wondered if the smell of those almonds had fans seeing double.
Cody Morgan of the Knights and Tyler Wong and Josh Bloom of the Spirit each scored twice in a 6-3 win by the Saginaw Spirit over the London Knights.
Morgan’s second goal gave the London overager 25 goals on the season and pulled the Knights to within a goal on a power play with 2:33 remaining in regulation time. Bloom hit 30 as he deposited a second Saginaw empty-netter into the London net with 1:11 left. Wong’s second goal of the game was also into an empty net.
Morgan started the scoring in the first period on a shot from the left side that beat rookie goalie Brett Fullerton. Fullerton made 27 saves in all and stymied both Camaryn Baber and Luke Evangelista on breakaways.
Former Knight Dalton Duhart tied the game late in the opening period adding to his career high with his 19th of the year.
After Wong and Denver Barkey exchanged early second period goals, Bloom and Roberto Mancini scored for the Spirit to put them ahead to stay.
Owen Flores made 21 saves in net for the Knights.
London outshot the Spirit 30-27 overall.
The Knights magic number to clinch the Midwest Division is four points. Any combination of points earned by London or lost by the Guelph Storm totalling four will give the Knights one of the top two seeds in the Western Conference once the OHL playoffs begin.
Guelph will visit the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday.
Battling through injuries
The Knights played the game in Saginaw with only five defencemen. Kirill Steklov missed the game with an undisclosed injury and Logan Mailloux remains out indefinitely with an upper body injury.
Bryce Montgomery has a lower body injury. London remains hopeful that goaltender Brett Brochu will be able to return before the end of the regular season and forward Abakar Kazbekov has been limited to just nine games this season with an upper body injury.
IceDogs head coach and G.M. suspended
The Ontario Hockey League announced on Wednesday that Niagara IceDogs head coach Billy Burke and general manager Joey Burke had been suspended indefinitely and fined $150 000.00 combined after the league carried out an investigation into a WhatsApp transcript that the league had received.
A statement from Commissioner David Branch read that the findings, “violate the Leagues’ Harassment & Abuse / Diversity Policy and also runs counter to the OHL’s Onside program which emphasizes the importance of demonstrating respect for women through actions and words.”
Up next
The Knights return to Budweiser Gardens on Friday, April 6, 2022 when they face the Owen Sound Attack for the final time during the regular season.
London kicked off the year against the Attack with back-to-back wins and have kept on winning.
The Knights are 9-0 in the season series although five of the gams have been decided by one goal with two going to overtime and another all the way to a shootout.
Coverage will begin at 7:00 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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