Knights extend series with win over Spits
Defending champs stave off elimination, force Game 6 on Sunday in Windsor
LONDON Getting the London Knights down is one thing, but putting the defending Memorial Cup champions out of the playoffs is another thing.
The Knights staved off elimination on Friday with a gritty 2-1 win over the Windsor Spitfires before 9,036 at Budweiser Gardens.
The win came just 24 hours after the Knights were put on the brink of elimination with Windsor’s second overtime win of the series on Thursday.
Windsor still holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series and can wrap up the series at home on Sunday.
“The fourth win is always the toughest,” Spitfires head coach Rocky Thompson said.
Windsor’s overtime win in Game 1 of the series in London put the team in position to win on home ice, but the Spitfires have struggled in the opening period in all three games in London in this series.
An early London power play just 64 seconds into the game did not produce a goal for the Knights, but certainly gave a club in need of momentum something to build on.
The Knights have outshot the Spitfires in the opening period in all three games in London in this series and Friday was no different.
London held a 12-7 edge in shots in the opening 20 minutes and has outshot Windsor 35-15 in the first period in three home games in this series.
On top of that, the Knights have opened the scoring in all three games at home and Robert Thomas was on the doorstep to put home the rebound of an Evan Bouchard point shot to put London up 1-0 after the first period.
Windsor started the second period with 12 seconds left in a power play, but London’s two forwards both opted to forecheck and the Spitfires broke out four-on-two and it eventually led to Jeremy Bracco getting the equalizer.
The Knights would use the same formula as their opening goal to regain the lead with a Mitchell Vande Sompel point shot stopped, but Mitchell Stephens on the doorstep to put London up 2-1 after 40 minutes.
The Spitfires had plenty of chances to pull even, which included six chances on the power play. Windsor had scored at least one power-play goal in each of the first four games of the series and was five-for-16 in the series, but failed on six chances.
Three of those opportunities came in the final period, but the Knights denied shots from the point and Windsor was unable to
set anything up down low.
“Special teams are so important,” Thompson said.
Windsor got DiPietro to the bench with 90 seconds left in regulation, but struggled to set anything up on offence as the Knights stayed alive. Logan Brown shot high in the dying seconds and Mikhail Sergachev put a blast over the net as the buzzer sounded.
“They’ve been great games,”
Thompson said. “All our games have been close with London.”
Counting the regular season, the two teams have played 11 games this season. London has just one loss in six games at Budweiser Gardens. The Spitfires have been perfect in five games at the WFCU Centre and will look to keep that streak alive on Sunday.