The Erie Otters won their fifth game in a row as they downed the London Knights 6-3 at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont., on Friday night.
Logan Mailloux of the Knights scored twice, Oliver Bonk had a goal and two assists and George Diaco had a pair of assists as London lost for just the second time in their past six games.
The teams combined to score a total of five power play goals.
After a scoreless first period the Otters popped two quick goals on separate power plays courtesy of Spencer Sova and Christan Kyrou to take a quick 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the second period.
Mailloux cut that lead in half with his third goal of the season on a London man advantage at the 7:52 mark of the second.
Nathan Sauder restored Erie’s two goal lead before the middle period ended as he sent a shot through a maze of players from the right point and the score was 3-1 Otters heading into the final 20 minutes.
Former Knight Liam Gilmartin stretched Erie’s lead to 4-1 as he deflected a puck past Brett Brochu on a long shot by Carey Terrance.
The clubs alternated goals from there as London head coach Dale Hunter went with an empty net on a couple of man advantages. Mailloux scored his second to cut the score to 4-2 and Oliver Bonk made it 5-3.
Noah Sedore and Carey Terrance scored into the empty net for Erie.
Zach Bowen played the final 11:08 of the game in goal for the Knights.
Both Isaiah George and Ruslan Gazizov returned from injury but London was without Ben Bujold (upper body) and Ryan Del Monte (lower body). Both are listed as day-to-day.
Sam O’Reilly made his OHL debut against Erie. O’Reilly has been one of the top players in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League at just 16 years of age. The Knights second round pick in 2021 has 29 points in 16 games for the London Nationals.
Team Black hits the win column at the Under-17s
The Under-17 World Hockey Challenge has begun in Delta, B.C, and Langley, B.C. Knights players Sam Dickinson and Luca Testa and London assistant coach are all taking part and so is Londoner Jett Luchanko of the Guelph Storm.
On the opening day of the tournament, Dickinson and Steadman and Team Black edged Luchanko and Team Red 4-3 while Testa and Team White lost their opener to Sweden 3-2.
Team USA, Finland and Czechia are also taking part in this year’s event. Dickinson has been named captain of Team Black.
Bo knows goals
Rodney, Ont., native and former London Knight Bo Horvat has 10 goals in 11 games so far this season for the Vancouver Canucks. If you rewind the clock to March 9, 2021, and the end of last season, Horvat has 24 goals over his last 29 games played. That works out to .82 goals per game and is tops in the NHL over that span of time.
Up next
The London Knights head to Owen Sound on Saturday, Nov. 5, to meet the Attack for the third time in 2022-23.
Owen Sound defeated the Knights on opening night of the season in London, Ont., and won a lopsided game 7-2 on Oct. 19.
London went 9-1 in 10 games between the teams a year ago.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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