Easton Cowan scored twice and Ryan Winterton scored a goal and made two assists as the London Knights beat Kitchener Rangers at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday night.
The win improved London’s road record to 14–3, best in the Ontario Hockey League.
The game saw the Knights power play strike out twice and rookie goaltender Zach Bowen earned his eighth win in a row. Bowen is now 9-1 on the year.
Easton Cowan started the scoring as he brought the puck to the ice two-on-two and then saw a Rangers defender grab an edge and fall. Suddenly it was two-on-two two-on-one. Cowan moved to the Kitchener End, using Jacob Julian as a decoy and slotted home his tenth goal of the season to open the scoring. The goal gave Cowan 25 points on the season, which tied him for fifth in rookie scoring with Joey Willis of the Saginaw Spirit.
Just five minutes later at 14:43 the Knights’ power play goal popped up when veteran Ryan Humphrey banged in a rebound into the left side of the Rangers net after a shot by Ryan Winterton was deflected in by Dorchester, Ontario native Marcus Vandenberg and was stopped. London took a 2–0 lead into the first half. The Knights held the Rangers to only four shots in the opening 20 minutes.
London capitalized quickly to start the third period as they killed the remainder of the penalty shootout and then took advantage of a Kitchener turnover inside the Knights’ blue line that created a three-on-one. Winterton threw a fake pass to George Diako and dropped the puck to Logan Mailloux, who fired a wrist shot to make it 3–0 for London.
Later in the second period, Diako skated a puck in the high slot and ripped in his 19th of the season to make it 4–0 for London.
Matthew Sopp ended Zach Bowen’s shutout streak at 98 minutes and 38 seconds with a goal at 11:51, but Winterton scored on a goal from Miillaux to restore the four-goal lead for the Knights going into the final period. Added on feed.
Landon Simm scored his 10th of the year to extend the London lead to 6–1.
Kitchener struck back with a short-handed goal from Reed Walled, which came on a penalty shot, and then a power play goal by Francesco Pinelli at 10:48 of the third period to bring the Rangers within three.
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Cowan came up with a big shot block on that power play and then minutes later finished the scoring into an empty net.
The win moved London to within one point of the Windsor Spitfires for first place in the Western Conference. Both teams have played 39 matches this season. It also ended three consecutive losing streaks by the Knights.
London defenseman Ethan McKinnon missed his 17th consecutive game with an upper body injury. Connor Federko also missed the game with an injury and Brett Brochu was released on the night in the London crease. Owen Willmore, the Knights’ 14th round pick in 2020, backed up Bowen. Willmore has split this year between St Thomas Stars and Stratford Warriors.
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welcome to the nhl
Jonathan Gruden spent one year of the pandemic-shortened 2019–20 season with the London Knights. Gruden was a fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators at the time, but was taken to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization in a trade that sent current Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray to the Senators.
Gruden spent two and a half seasons with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, and on Monday, January 16, the Rochester, Michigan, native received the call up to the National Hockey League. Gruden made his NHL debut, playing 7:02 in a 4–3 Penguins victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
Gruden’s father, John, spent 92 games in the NHL as a player before becoming a coach. He is currently an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins.
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Piccinich in winning position again
JJ Piccinich, a former Knight of London, has a collection of championships himself. The Paramus, NJ, native won a Hockey East title with Boston University in 2015, the year before joining the Knights.
In his first season in London, Ont., Piccinich won an OHL championship and a Memorial Cup with the Knights. Following his OHL career Piccinich won the Kelly Cup with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers in 2019 and then led the Belfast Giants in scoring and captured a British crown last season.
Take away 2020 because of COVID-19 and Piccinich has held the trophy over his head four times in the last seven seasons. Piccinich is in Norway with Sjternen Hockey this year and he and teammates Alex Dostie and Austin Cangelosi are 1-2-3 in league scoring and bidding to win it in the Fjordkraft-ligaen.
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London will play two home games over three days against Owen Sound Attack on Friday, 20 January at 7pm and Kitchener Rangers on Sunday, 22 January at 2pm.
The Knights are 2-2 against the attack this season. Owen Sound won the first two games and London won the last two.
The Knights and Rangers will meet for the third time this year.
Both games can be heard on 980 CFPL www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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