Logan Mailloux’s seeing eye shot from the right point through traffic found the back of the net on the power play at 16:28 of the third period to break a 1-1 tie and propel the London Knights to a 3-1 win over the Sting in game two of the OHL Western Conference final on Sunday afternoon before a sell out crowd of 9,036 at Budweiser Gardens.
London now leads the best-of-seven series, two games to none with games three and four set for Tuesday and Wednesday night at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
The game-winning goal was scored 15 seconds after Ethan Del Mastro was assessed a controversial boarding penalty on Brody Crane who was driving hard to the net down the right wing. London iced the game on an empty net goal by Ryan Winterton who also added two assists on the contest.
Easton Cowan broke a scoreless tie when he roofed a shot from the left wing over the right shoulder of Ben Gaudreau early in the third period. Ethan Ritchie scored the equalizer with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation time with a quick shot from the high along the blue ice in between the two points. The goal was set up by strong work along the wall by Christian Kyrou and Marcus Limpar-Lantz.
Brett Brochu stopped all 18 shots he faced until he suffered an apparent knee injury late in the second period. Zach Bowen came off the bench to make eight saves over the final 23 plus minutes. Ben Gaudreau stopped 25 of 27 shots directed his way in the Sting goal. In post game comments, Knights head coach Dale Hunter didn’t know the extent of the injury or the availability of Brochu going forward in the series.
London was again dominant in the dot winning 31 of 51 draws on the afternoon.
