Three goals by Owen Sound Attack forward Landon Hookey helped them to build enough of a cushion to hang on and outlast the London Knights 7-5 on Saturday night at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Arena.
Owen Sound built a 5-0 lead through a period and a half and London worked their way back to within one goal at 5-4 and then within one goal a second time at 6-5 before Hookey’s third rolled down the ice. It landed into an empty London net with just over two minutes remaining in the third period to complete a crazy night full of goals.
Hookey got two of his goals in the opening 20 minutes and that pair, coupled with Servac Petrovsky’s 20th goal of the year, gave the Attack a 3-0 edge heading into the second period.
Owen Sound increased their lead to 5-0 early in the second as Attack captain Colby Barlow ripped his 40th goal of the year into the top corner of the Knight net at the 4:24 mark. Less than four minutes later, Petrovsky stole a puck from Bowen outside the London crease and backhanded home his second goal of the game.
The Knights began to chip away as Easton Cowan found Logan Mailloux for a tip-in at 12:50 of period two. The Ruslan Gazizov scored his 19th of the year when he deflected an Alec Leonard shot — London found themselves trailing by three heading into the third.
Two goals from rookie defenceman Sam Dickinson got the Knights to within one with 13:20 to go in regulation time, but a Barlow power play goal made it 6-4 with under eight minutes left.
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Undeterred, London got within one again when Denver Barkey banged in an Easton Cowan rebound at the 13:20 mark.
Owen Sound held from there to earn a split in the six-game season series between the teams.
Bowen saw his 15-game personal winning streak end one game shy of Matthew Villalta’s record for longest streak by a 16 or 17-year-old OHL rookie.
The line of Ryan Winterton with Cowan and Barkey continued to make things happen. Barkey had a goal and two assists, Winterton had three assists and Cowan added two helpers of his own.
London outshot the Attack 35-29.
All overtime, all the time
For a week, the Knights couldn’t seem to keep from going beyond regulation time. For three straight games and four out of five, London found themselves playing overtime. They have continued to add to a spectacular stat. The Knights have a .962 winning percentage in games that go beyond regulation. They have been there 13 times in the 2022-23 season and their only loss came in October against the Mississauga Steelheads. This is the most OT London has played since the 2015-16 season, when they played four overtime games in a five game stretch. That team went 3-1 in that span thanks to a pair of game winning goals from Max Jones and another from Aaron Berisha. That Knights team would wind up on a 17-game winning streak in the playoffs later that year on their way to the franchise’s second Memorial Cup championship.
Team Ontario takes gold at Canada Winter Games
Londoners Ryan Roobroek and Parker Snelgrove, along with Jack Nesbitt of Sarnia, Ont., captured gold in men’s hockey with a 3-2 double overtime victory over Saskatchewan in the championship game. Matthew Schaefer of Stoney Creek, Ont., scored the game winning goal. Ontario outlasted B.C. 8-6 in a semi-final. Roobroek, Snelgrove and Nesbitt are expected to be high picks in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection.
Up next
London has a quick turnaround for a game against the Guelph Storm in Guelph, Ont., on Sunday, Feb. 26.
The Knights have gone 4-1 against the Storm this season and won the last meeting 5-1 on Feb. 11.
Guelph has won three of their past four games. They hammered Sault Ste. Marie 7-3 on Feb. 24 in a game that saw Max Nemstnikov score four times. Braeden Bowman had a goal and four assists in that game for the Storm and defenceman Michael Buchinger had four assists. Guelph went 4-for-8 on the power play.
Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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