London Knights co-captain Sean McGurn scored a goal and added three assists as the Knights defeated the Kitchener Rangers 5-1 on Thursday night at Budweiser Gardens to open the second round series between the teams.
Ryan Humphrey added a pair of goals for London and the Knights power play scored three times on four opportunities.
The teams went back and forth for the first 19 minutes of the game until the only penalty of the period was called, creating the first of those man advantages.
It went to Mitchell Martin of Kitchener and gave the Knights a power play and 15 seconds into that power play Denver Barkey took a pass from McGurn on the right side of the Ranger zone. Barkey waited, looked, shot and scored through an Easton Cowan screen in front and London led 1-0 after 20 minutes.
After an early penalty kill by the Knights, London’s power play clicked again at the 3:05 mark of the second period when McGurn deflected home his fourth goal of the playoffs off of a Logan Mailloux shot and the Knights were ahead 2-0.
Just over three minutes later McGurn was in on a play again as he won a faceoff and Sam Dickinson put a shot on Kitchener goalie Marco Costantini who made the save but then watched as his former Hamilton Bulldogs teammate Ryan Humphrey grabbed the rebound and put it around Costantini and into the net to give the Knights a three-goal advantage heading into the third period.
McGurn went 21-6 on faceoffs. Collectively London won 60.3 per cent of the draws in the game.
Humphrey got his second of the night and fourth of the playoffs when the Rangers turned the puck over at the London blue line. Diaco and McGurn battled the puck down the right wing boards into the Kitchener end and then Diaco looked up and found Humphrey coming across the blue line and Humphrey fired the puck past Costantini.
Dallas prospect Francesco Arcuri got the only goal for Kitchener as he blasted home a one-timer on a man advantage with under five minutes to play.
Diaco finished the scoring with the Knights’ third power play goal in the game at 17:19 of the third.
London outshot the Rangers 32-23. They limited Kitchener to just 11 total shots through the final two periods.
The Knights got defenceman Isaiah George back from injury for Game 1 but were without San Jose Sharks draft pick Max McCue who missed the series opener with a non-COVID illness.
The Rangers were without their captain Francesco Pinelli who was serving the second game of the three-game suspension. Pinelli will be eligible to return in Game 3.
Brett Brochu named OHL Goaltender of the Week
Add two shutouts in four games to the best goals against average in the playoffs and the second best save percentage and you get an award winner. London Knights goalie Brett Brochu has been named OHL Goaltender of the Week after leading Knights to a first round four-game sweep of the Owen Sound Attack.
Brochu posted shutouts to open and to close the series and leads all OHL netminders with a 1.34 goals against average heading into Round Two.
Onuska sitting pretty in the NHL
Two of the best seats at any hockey game belong to the backup goalies. Former Windsor Spitfire and London Knight Matt Onuska got to soak in the sights and sounds of the Toronto Maple Leafs as they faced the Lightning in Tampa Bay, Fla., on Tuesday, Apr. 11. He signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Maple Leafs after Toronto ran into salary cap issues and injury issues when both Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray were unable to play.
Onuska joined Owen Sound Attack goalie Nick Chenard with the Leafs. Neither goalie was able to suit up again for the Maple Leafs’ final game because an ATO limits players to only one appearace.
Up next
Game 2 of the Western Conference semi-final will be right back in London on Friday, Apr. 14.
The other three second round series will open on Apr. 14 as well as the Saginaw Spirit visit the Sarnia Sting in the west and Barrie meets North Bay and Peterborough goes to Ottawa in the east.
Coverage of Game 2 between the Knights and Rangers will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.