Knights take down Spitfires with an 8-2 win
London Community News
By Jonathon Brodie/London Community News / Twitter: @jonathonbrodie
The London Knights put their losing woes behind them Friday (Oct. 5) against the Windsor Spitfires at Budweiser Gardens and the team in Hunter green did it in royal fashion.
The Knights took down the Spitfires 8-2, matching London’s scoreboard in their two wins to open the season.
London has now won their last five games against their rival Spitfires.
The Knights scored all three goals within five minutes of the first period, starting with Josh Anderson putting his first puck in the back of the net on the year.
The next two goals came from Brett Welychka and rookie Alex Broadhurst, a pair originally penciled in on the third line, but the Hunter shuffle was in full effect.
“We were clicking right, so hopefully we keep that going,” said Broadhurst, who finished the game with two goals on a line with Chris Tierney and Knights’ goal leader Seth Griffith. “The veterans have been here and I have to somehow fit in and as an older guy on the team it’s kind of hard to me on a spot right now and I just got to earn my keep here.”
Broadhurst wasn’t the only London player picking up points as each forward on the top three offensive lines earned a mark on the stat sheet, but the best highlights came from double goal scorers Matt Rupert and Max Domi—who was also originally planned for the third line, but finished the night with Bo Horvat and Josh Anderson.
“We shuffled the lines all game and we just have to kind of adapt,” Domi said. “We’re all used to playing with each other no matter who we play with, so when you go out there you just have to produce and we did that tonight.”
The score could have easily been bigger for the Knights, but they failed to convert on four power plays despite swarming the Spitfires’ net on each, but managed to pull out a goal on their fifth and final man advantage.
Sitting at the number four spot in the BMO Mastercard Canadian Hockey League rankings, London lost their last two games (Guelph Storm, Kitchener Ranger Rangers), which is somewhat of an unfamiliar feeling for London.
The Knights only lost back-to-back games twice last year in the regular season and once in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. The team never lost three times in a row last year and wasn’t about to let up Friday.
London came into the season blazing with 16 goals in two games, but followed it up with only two points on the scoreboard in two games after running into a pair of hot goalies.
“You just got to buy into the system and we have a pretty good system in place with the coaching staff we have and everyone bought in tonight,” Domi said, shooting to the top of the Knights’ point leader board tied with Griffith by adding an assist on the night to bring his total tally to nine. “When we buy in it’s a pretty deadly hockey team we have.”
Knights’ forward Seth Griffin was once again held off the goal sheet after last game was his first matchup of the season to not find the back of the net, collecting six goals and one assist in the opening three games.
London will travel to Erie to take on the Otters on Saturday (Oct. 6). The Knights opened the season with a home win against the Otters on Sept. 21.
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