Brody Crane scored twice and added two assists as the London Knights hammered the Windsor Spitfires 6-1 at the WFCU centre in Windsor, Ont., on Saturday night.
Crane now has six points in his past two games and London has seven victories in their past nine games.
The Knights got off to a ferocious start on Saturday scoring three times in the opening 20 minutes.
George Diaco chipped in a Denver Barkey pass and later set up Sean McGurn on a power play. Diaco now has ten goals on the season.
In between, Crane wristed in a rebound at the side of the net to give him five goals on the season.
London led 3-0 going to the dressing room.
Windsor had a goal by Matt Maggio disallowed in the final minute of the first period after it was ruled offside.
The Knights scored another three goals in the second period as Ruslan Gazizov converted a feed from McGurn on a two-on-one. That ended the night for former London goaltender Matt Onuska. Crane picked up an assist on the play as well.
The Crane dropped a pass to Landon Sim and Sim beat Joey Costanzo in the Spitfires net just over three minutes later to give the Knights a 5-0 lead.
That prompted a timeout by Windsor head coach Marc Savard. Then, a bit of a burst from the Spitfires that saw Ethan Miedema stopped by London goalie Zach Bowen, only to have Miedema get to his own rebound. The Spitfires were on the scoreboard.
Crane’s second of the night at 17:17 of the second period restored the Knights’ five-goal lead.
The third period ended scoreless and London improved their record away from home to 5-2.
Windsor outshot the Knights 39-27. Zach Bowen made 38 stops for his second OHL victory.
London goaltender Brett Brochu did not make the trip to Windsor, Ont. Owen Willmore was recalled from the St. Thomas Stars of the GOJHL to back up Bowen in the Knights crease.
Brochu is expected to start against the Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
Luke Evangelista staying hot in Milwaukee
Former London Knights captain Luke Evangelista recorded his first two-goal game in the American Hockey League on Nov. 11 in a Milwaukee Admirals loss to the Iowa Wild. Evangelista has stayed consistently hot from the first drop of the puck in his professional career. The AHL rookie now has four goals and 11 points in 11 games. Evangelista was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the 2nd round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
Team USA wins gold at World Under-17s
Team USA finished their undefeated run at this year’s World Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in Langley and Delta, B.C. The Americans defeated Londoner Jett Luchanko and Team Canada Red 11-3 on Saturday night. Finland captured bronze earlier in the day with a 7-1 win over Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson, London assistant coach Rick Steadman and Team Canada Black. Knights prospect James Hagens led the tournament in scoring. Hagens was selected by London in the sixth round of the 2022 OHL Priority Selection.
Up next
The Knights will play their third game in less than 48 hours on Sunday afternoon back at home against the Sault. Ste. Marie Greyhounds at 2 p.m.
The Greyhounds got 35 saves from Charlie Schenkel in a 1-0 win over the Knights in London’s second game of the season.
The teams will meet in Sault Ste. Marie on Nov. 20 as the Knights once again play three games in two and a half days.
Coverage will start at 1:30 p.m. with the pre-game show on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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