The London Knights took Game 2 of their second round series with the Rangers as they knocked off Kitchener 8-4 in front of a sold out Budweiser Gardens crowd on Friday night.
Fourteen of London’s 18 skaters recorded a point in the game.
Ruslan Gazizov recorded a goal and three assists.
Knights co-captain George Diaco had three assists for his third three-point game of the post-season.
The Knights came out flying and scored 49 seconds into the game on a wrist shot by Logan Mailloux and then cashed in twice on the power play before the first period was barely ten minutes old.
First Sam Dickinson found a lane for a shot that flew through traffic and into the Ranger net for Dickinson’s first-ever playoff goal. Kitchener challenged the play for goaltender interference but the challenge was not successful.
With time ticking down on London’s second man advantage, George Diaco got a puck to Ryan Winterton at the side of the Ranger net and Winterton found a hole in former teammate Marco Costantini at 10:07 to make it 3-0 for the Knights. Costantini had stopped Winterton on 20 consecutive shots dating back to their first meeting on opposite sides when London and Kitchener met in the regular season.
At that point the Knights power play was 5-for-6 in the series.
Kitchener had given a good push to end the opening 20 minutes. They recorded the final eight shots on goal but London doused any momentum the Rangers tried to carry into the second period as Easton Cowan scored 37 seconds off the opening faceoff.
Jacob Julien intercepted a clearing attempt on the left side of the Kitchener zone and fed Connor Federkow in the slot for his second of the playoffs and it was 5-0 Knights.
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That goal spelled the end of the night for Costantini. He was replaced by Dorchester, Ont., native Marcus Vandenberg.
Vandenberg faced an early 5-on-3 power play and held the Knights off the scoreboard but not long after those penalties ended, London’s Brody Crane ripped a shot high and into the net to extend the Knights lead to 6-0.
The Rangers connected on a goal on a late man advantage as Reid Valade deflected in a Filip Mesar feed at 18:58 of the middle period.
Mitchell Martin scored a second goal for Kitchener at 1:29 of a penalty-filled final 20 minutes to make it 6-2 for London.
Knights co-captain Sean McGurn extended his scoring streak to six games with his fifth goal of the post-season at 11:17 of the third period.
Francesco Arcuri scored two more for the Rangers 2:05 apart to finish their scoring.
Ruslan Gazizov added an eighth goal for London with 14.4 seconds remaining to end things 8-4.
The Knights outshot Kitchener 44-29.
London’s power play went 2-for-9. Kitchener was 2-for-3 with the man advantage.
Warriors win Alliance title
The Waterloo Warriors defeated the London Jr. Knights 7-1 in a deciding game to capture the 2023 U-16 Alliance Championship. The Jr. Knights had fallen behind four points to none in what was a six-point series after back-to-back 4-1 losses but managed to work they way back to force a fifth and potentially deciding game.
London edged Waterloo 2-1 on home ice in the third game of the series and did it without top scorer Ryan Roobroeck. The Jr. Knights got Roobroeck back for the fourth game and he scored the game winner in a 3-2 decision.
Roobroeck, Ethan Weir and Parker Snelgrove are all expected to be high selections in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection that begins on Friday, Apr. 21.
Ella Shelton and Team Canada set for semis
Former London Devilette Ella Shelton and Team Canada will face Switzerland at 4 p.m. eastern on Saturday, Apr. 15 in a semi-final at the Women’s World Hockey Championship in Brampton, Ont. This is the third World Championship for Shelton who has one assist in five games so far for Canada.
Shelton had two goals and nine points in seven games at the 2021 World Championship. The Ingersoll, Ont., native finished her Devilettes Career in 2016 and then attended Clarkson University where Shelton was named captain in 2019-20.
Up next
The Knights and Rangers will meet in Kitchener, Ont., for Game 3 of their Western Conference semi-final series on Sunday, Apr. 16 at 2 p.m.
Game 4 will also be at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Apr. 18
Coverage can be heard on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
The pre-game show for game 3 will start at 1:30 p.m.
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