Third period goals by defencemen Jackson Edward and Ethan MacKinnon helped the London Knights to defeat the Sudbury Wolves 5-4 on Saturday night at Budweiser Gardens.
With the game tied 3-3, Edward wristed his second career goal and second goal in as many games through traffic and into the Wolves’ net just 39 seconds into the third period to make it 4-3.
MacKinnon added another goal from almost exactly the same spot at the 8:55 mark and that gave London the cushion they needed to outlast a late Sudbury push to preserve their second win in three nights.
All three games in a three-day span ended up being decided by a single goal as London edged Niagara 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 27 and then fell 4-3 to North Bay on Oct. 29 before getting the win over the Wolves.
George Diaco hit the century mark to open the scoring with his 100th point on a power play at 9:57 of the first period.
Diaco, a former London Jr. Knight, now has four goals in his past four games.
The Sudbury Wolves erased the London lead just over one minute into the second period on a goal by Delhi, Ont., native Landon McCallum. Sudbury added two more goals in the next three minutes and 42 seconds as Kieron Walton and Nick DeGrazia found the back of the Knight net and the Wolves suddenly led 3-1.
The score stayed that way until the late stages of the middle period when it took London just nine seconds to even the score.
Near the end of a Knight man advantage, Sam Dickinson followed his own shot to the net, grabbed the rebound and banked it off Sudbury goaltender Joe Ranger for Dickinson’s third goal of the season.
Right off the faceoff at centre ice, Denver Barkey and Brody Crane came flying back into the Wolves zone and Barkey fed Crane to tie the game 3-3.
Edward and MacKinnon put London ahead in the first half of the third period and then London held on as the Wolves pulled their goalie with just under three minutes remaining. Quintin Musty managed to find Evan Konyen and he tightened the score to 5-4, but that is as close as Sudbury was able to get.
Sudbury outshot the Knights 41-36 as Brett Brochu made 37 saves for his fourth victory of the season.
Knights and area players set for Under-17s
Luca Testa and Sam Dickinson of the Knights will now head west to play at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in Langley and Delta, B.C., from Nov. 5-12. Dickinson will play on Canada Black with Delhi, Ont., native Marek Vanacker of the Hamilton Bulldogs. Testa will play for Canada White. Londoner Jett Luchanko, who is a member of the Guelph Storm, will play for Canada Red.
Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman will serve as an assistant coach for Canada Black. The three Canadian teams will go up against Finland, Sweden, Czechia and the United States.
Three Knights rated as players to watch
National Hockey League Central Scouting has released its initial “Players to Watch” list for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. Oliver Bonk was named a B-rated prospect while Denver Barkey and Easton Cowan were listed as C-rated prospects. Goaltender and Londoner Charlie Robertson was also given a C rating.
He plays for the North Bay Battalion. In all, 48 players from the OHL received mention. Only three players were rated A prospects by Central Scouting: Calum Ritchie (Oshawa), Cameron Allen (Guelph), and Colby Barlow (Owen Sound).
Up next
The Knights will host the Erie Otters at Budweiser Gardens on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.
The teams met twice this year in the pre-season and split a couple of shootouts and then played in Erie, Pa., for the Otters’ home opener, where Erie got by London 3-1.
The game will be the second of six meetings this season between the two clubs.
Coverage will start at 6:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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