Nolan Burke scored twice and added an assist as the Sarnia Sting doubled up the London Knights 6-3 on Wednesday night to turn the best-of-7 Western Conference final into a best-of-3.
The home team has now won all four games.
Denver Barkey had a goal and an assist on the night for the Knights. London defenceman Logan Mailloux had a pair of assists.
The first period was 20 minutes of mirror images.
Sarnia got an even strength goal from Brendan Anderson and a power play goal from Maple Leafs prospect Ty Voit in the first 10:05 of the game to open a 2-0 lead but the Knights came roaring back over the next nine minutes and 55 seconds.
First Ryan Humphrey got a puck to the front of the Sting net and London co-captain George Diaco backhanded it past Ben Gaudreau to cut the lead in half and then on a Knights power play Ryan Winterton tied the game with a wrist shot through traffic.
Winterton has four goals and three assists in the series.
After four goals in the first period, the teams combined for another four in the second period.
London took a 3-2 lead when Denver Barkey deflected a Logan Mailloux shot into the Sarnia net at 10:57 of the middle frame but the Sting fought back with three straight goals.
Nolan Burke took a feed at the side of the Knight net on a Sarnia power play and cut across the crease where he put the puck past Zach Bowen for his seventh goal of the playoffs to knot things up 3-3.
Just two minutes and two seconds later, Ty Voit found Marcus Limpar-Lantz to the right of the Knight net and the Sting had a lead back.
Easton Wainwright made it 5-3 at 18:29.
London put a puck across the Sarnia goal line with 38.1 seconds remaining in the second period but the goal was waved off when it was ruled Ryan Humphrey made contact with Gaudreau before the puck entered the net.
The Knights challenged the play but the call on the ice stood.
Only one goal was scored in the final 20 minutes and it came as London went to a power play and pulled Bowen for an extra attacker. The puck came to Burke and he wristed it down the ice and into the empty net.
Sasha Pastujov had three assists in the game for the Sting.
Sarnia outshot the Knights 28-26.
Marner nominated for Selke Trophy
Former London Knights co-captain and current Toronto Maple Leaf Mitch Marner has been nominated for the Frank J. Selke trophy which goes to the forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game in the National Hockey League.
Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins and Nico Hischier of the New Jersey Devils are the other two nominees. The award winner is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Remparts and Ice one series win away
The Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL and the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League each completed four-game sweeps on May 3 and have now advanced to their respective league finals. Four more wins will book them a berth in the 2023 Memorial Cup tournament in Kamloops. B.C.
The Remparts are coached by Patrick Roy and took down the Gatineau Olympiques in the third round. Quebec had the best record in the QMJHL,s regular season and will now face the Sherbrooke Phoenix or the Halifax Mooseheads for the President’s Trophy. The Winnipeg Ice eliminated the Saskatoon Blades in four games and have instantly become enormous supporters of the Kamloops Blazers.
Kamloops trails the Seattle Thunderbirds two games to one in the WHL’s Western Conference final but if the Blazers can win that series, Winnipeg will get an automatic berth in the Memorial Cup because Kamloops will be in automatically as tournament hosts.
Up next
The Knights and the Sting return to Budweiser Gardens for Game 5 on Friday, May 5.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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