George Diaco snapped the overtime winner into the Owen Sound net at the 15:57 mark of overtime to give the London Knights a 5-4 victory in Game 2 of their opening round playoff series.
Diaco settled the puck down just inside the blue line and followed Max McCue’s drive to the net that opened up space as Diaco glided into the slot and picked his spot to put the Knights ahead 2-0 in the series.
Owen Sound had tied the game with two goals in a 32-second span with just 53 seconds remaining in regulation time.
Colby Barlow’s first goal of the playoffs started the scoring in the opening period. Barlow had 46 goals in 59 games in the regular season to lead Owen Sound and he banged in a rebound on an Attach power play at the 11:11 mark.
London tied the game five minutes and 33 seconds later. Sam Dickinson put a pass onto the stick of Brody Crane who was going hard to the net, and Crane put home his first goal of the post-season. Dickson got the lone assist on the play, but the goal would not have happened without the work of Landon Sim and Ruslan Gazizov down low.
Owen Sound had been called for icing and got possession off the faceoff but Gazizov and Sim wouldn’t give the Attack any space to clear the puck to change some tired players and eventually Dickinson won a race along the right-side wall and made the play to Crane.
The Knights connected twice on the man advantage in the middle period as Denver Barkey took a shot that was stopped by Attack goalie Corbin Votary, but Easton Cowan grabbed the rebound, deked and scored his first-ever OHL playoff goal to make it 2-1 London.
A little over four minutes later Ryan Winterton buried a shot from the slot to extend the Knights lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
Owen Sound made it 3-2 just 4:34 into the third period when defenceman Sam Sedley stole a puck in centre ice, went in alone and scored.
London defenceman Ethan MacKinnnon restored the Knights two-goal lead as he fired a rebound past Votary with 10:33 to go.
The Attack got a late power play and used it to draw to within a goal again on Barlow’s second of the game. Then 32 seconds later Cedrick Guindon got a puck near the left point of the London zone and blasted a shot through a screen and by Brett Brochu to knot things up, 4-4.
London outshot the Attack 53-28 overall.
Both teams scored twice on the man advantage as the series now shifts north.
Tough draw leads to end of road at OHL Cup
The U-16 London Jr. Knights turned a tough start into a phenomenal finish in their round robin at the 2023 OHL Cup. After losing their first game and leaving themselves no room for error the Jr. Knights reeled off three straight wins over three good teams and advanced to the OHL Cup quarter-finals following Aidan Young’s overtime winning goal against the Whitby Wildcats.
London then found themselves up against the vaunted Toronto Jr. Canadiens where they scored first, but fell 4-1, effectively ending their tournament. Young led the way offensively with six goals and eight points in five games. The Jr. Knights will now face the Waterloo Wolves for the Alliance championship. The Toronto Jr. Canadiens have since moved on to the OHL Cup final where they will face the Vaughan Kings on Monday, Apr. 3 at 7 p.m.
Next up
The Knights and Attack head for Owen Sound, Ont., and games three and four of their first round series.
The Attack won two of the three games played at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre this season.
The most recent one was a wild 7-5 victory that saw Owen Sound jump out to a 5-0 lead before the Knights mounted a furious comeback that saw them twice get to within one goal of tying the game before the Attack wrapped it up for good.
Game 3 will take place on Tuesday, Apr. 4 at 7 p.m., and Game 4 happens Thursday, Apr. 6 at 7 p.m.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.