The series between the London Knights and the Kitchener Rangers began as a best-of-seven on April 21.
It is going to need all seven games to decide a winner.
Kitchener scored four second-period goals and held off a London push in period three to win 5-2 and push the matchup to the limit.
Game 7 will be played at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Budweiser Gardens.
The Rangers came into Game 6 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium knowing they had no room for error and that after an end-to-end opening 20 minutes that saw the teams combine for 30 shots and a 0-0 tie, Carson Rehkopf talllied twice and Ranger singles by Trent Swick and Reid Valade built a big enough lead for Kitchener to survive.
“It would have been awesome to put them away today,” said London captain Luke Evangelista after the game. “We’re going back to (Budweiser Gardens) to play a Game 7 and that’s every kid’s dream to play in a Game 7 so… it’s going to be exciting.”
Evangelista scored his second goal of the series in the third period just a little over six minutes after Knights rookie forward Denver Barkey finally solved Pavel Cajan in the Kitchener net.
Cajan made 38 saves in all and was named the game’s first star.
Tonio Stranges did not play in the game for London. The Knights’ leading scorer in the playoffs missed the game with a non-COVID-related illness. London was still without defencemen Isaiah George and Logan Mailloux and forward Abakar Kazbekov. George is out with a non-COVID related illness and both Mailloux and Kazbekov have upper body injuries.
London’s Brett Brochu played the first two periods but was rested by London head coach Dale Hunter in the third.
Brochu faced 26 shots through 40 minutes, Owen Flores came in to stop three of four shots to finish the game.
Hunter pointed to three keys for the one-game winner-take-all on Wednesday.
“Be ready, play a good first period and stay disciplined,” said Hunter.
The Knights will be trying to follow those instructions to a series victory.
OHL admits video review error on Kitchener goal
Prior to Game 6 between the Knights and Rangers, the Ontario Hockey League released a statement regarding a disallowed goal by Mike Petizian of Kitchener.
The statement read, “Based on a review by the League, an error was made and the play in question should have been ruled a goal for the Rangers as it was directed into the net with a Ranger stick and not a distinct kicking motion of the puck with a skate as ruled.”
Two other goals were reviewed during the game. One was scored by London and disallowed after it was ruled there was goaltender interference on the play. Another by Kitchener was reviewed for possibly kicking the puck in but was determined to be a good goal.
That play could have also been reviewed for goaltender interference but was not. The Rangers organization has also been fined $2500 for comments made about the incident.
1 vs 8 upset in the WHL
In 2002 the London Knights pulled off a stunning upset of a powerhouse Plymouth Whalers team. The eighth-seeded Knights took on the top-seeded Whalers featuring Stephen Weiss, Greg Campbell, Jasmes Wisniewski and other stars and London beat them in six games.
The Vancouver Giants pulled off the improbable by beating the Everett Silvertips in six games after a 6-3 victory at home on Monday, May 2. The Silvertips finished the regular season 47 points ahead of Vancouver in the regular season. That was the largest spread in any series upset victory in Western Hockey League history. In 2002 Chris Houle made 196 saves in goal for the Knights to lead them to their upset series win. The Knights finished the 2001-02 season 27 points back of the Whalers.
Up next
Game 7.
It will happen on Wednesday, May 4 at 7 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
London and Kitchener have played two other Game 7s against each other and have split them.
In 1993 it was the Knights were about as close to being eliminated as you can come. Todd Warriner of the Rangers had a puck hop over his stick on an empty net chance and London stormed back to tie the game and then win in overtime. The Knights topped that off with a Game 7 victory in London, Ont.
The Knights won a Game 6 in Kitchener in 2010 only to have the Rangers win Game 7 in London.
Coverage will start at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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