A power play by Logan Mailloux goal with 3:32 remaining in the third period lifted the London Knights to a 3-1 win over the Sarnia Sting in Game 2 of the OHL’s Western Conference final.
London now leads the series two games to none with Game 3 in Sarnia, Ont., on May 2.
Ryan Winterton had a goal and two assists for the Knights.
The London forward and Seattle Kraken prospect now has six goals and 16 points in 11 playoff games.
Along with the victory the big story on the afternoon was a loss by the Knights.
London starting goaltender Brett Brochu was forced to leave the game with 3:35 left in the second period.
As a puck was carried into the London zone Brochu appeared to lean to his right in order to get set and went down flat on his stomach. Play carried up the ice and eventually stopped after a Ben Gaudreau save.
Brochu tried to get back up and was attended to. He eventually got to his skates and a chair was brought out to assist him off the ice, but Brochu waved it off and managed to skate off under his own power.
He will be evaluated on Monday.
Rookie goalie Zach Bowen came into the game as it sat 0-0 and stopped eight of the nine shots he faced and was named the game’s third star.
Bowen had to make a big save with his right pad before the second period ended in order to send the game into the final 20 minutes still scoreless.
At that point the teams had come very close to scoring more than once.
Knights defenceman Isaiah George pulled a puck off the goal line at the London end of the ice in the opening period after Nolan Burke had rung a shot off the post.
Knights co-captain George Diaco had a puck tick off a leg in front as he had it labeled at an open spot.
Ryan Winterton set up Easton Cowan to break the goose eggs as he put a shot off the cross bar and in at the 2:21 of the third period.
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The score stayed that way past the midway mark of the period when Sting defenceman Ethan Ritchie zipped a shot through traffic and into the London net to tie the game.
Ethan Del Mastro was called for boarding with under four minutes remaining, He gave Knights forward Brody Crane a shove into the boards and Crane hit hard and fell to the ice. Crane did not play another shift and will also be evaluated.
The penalty was originally posted as a five-minute major but was reviewed and reduced to a minor infraction.
Just 15 seconds into the London man advantage Mailloux sent a shot from the right point past Gaudreau for a 2-1 London lead.
Winterton sealed the victory with a shot from his own end that went right into the empty net with 32 seconds remaining in the game.
The Knights outshot the Sting 28-27.
London was 1-for-3 on the power play. Sarnia was 0-for-1.
Tavares ends the Maple Leaf wait
There is a reason John Tavares became a fixture and a focal point of the hockey world at a very young age. He was always able to rise up and stand out. The former Knight and Oshawa General ended a 19-year wait for a playoff series victory in Toronto when he sent a puck at the Tampa Bay net and it deflected off a skate and over the goal line at 4:36 of overtime on Apr. 29.
The Maple Leafs eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games to advance to the second round in the NHL post-season for the first time since 2004.
Up next
The Knights and Sting will play Game 3 of the Western Conference final on Tuesday, May 2 at 7 p.m.
The North Bay Battalion evened their series at a game apiece in the Eastern Conference final against the Peterborough Petes. The Battalion beat the Petes 3-1. Owen Van Steensel from Ilderton, Ont., scored one of the three goals for North Bay,
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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