Can Knights grab top seed over Saginaw?

Knight Watch: Our weekly column on the latest Knights news & notes — plus a weekend preview.
Columnist Jake Jeffrey has you covered …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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The London Knights will win the Midwest Division — but top spot in the conference is still up for grabs as we enter the final two weeks of the regular season.

A 5-1 win in Erie Wednesday night helped the Knights open a two-point edge over Saginaw for first place, but London has played one more game than the Spirit — and it’s Saginaw who holds the tiebreaker between the teams. In other words, the Knights will have to finish first outright to get the top seed (and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs).

London faces a big test this weekend with the Greyhounds in town Friday night. The Soo remains the only team London has yet to beat this season, as the Greyhounds have won all three games thus far, including a dominant victory in the most recent meeting last month.

Easton Cowan was not in the Knights’ lineup Wednesday, so his point streak remains at 32, one shy of the franchise record set by Dave Gilmore in 1993-94. He is day-to-day with an upper body injury and will most likely return to the lineup this weekend.

Goaltenders Owen Willmore and Michael Simpson picked up wins last weekend. Both allowed just a single goal in their respective victories. Willmore kept it up Wednesday, allowing one goal to record his seventh straight win. 

With four games remaining in the regular season, Denver Barkey needs six points to reach 100 on the season. Luke Evangelista was the last Knight to reach the century mark. He picked up 111 points in the 2021-22 season. Barkey, who recently signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, has 18 points over his last 10 games.

Kaleb Lawrence has four goals over his last three games as he looks to join the growing list of 20-goal scorers in the Knights’ lineup. The team currently has seven players with 20 or more goals this year. Lawrence, Sam Dickinson, and Sam O’Reilly each have 18 entering action this weekend. 

The Knights have won three straight, outscoring opponents 15-3 in the process. That helped London clinch their fifth straight Midwest Division. They also have a shot at their first 100-point season since the Memorial Cup-winning team in 2016.

Just two weekends remain in the OHL regular season. London will host the Soo Friday night, and then play a home-and-home with Windsor before rounding out the season against Guelph.

Can Denver Barkey reach the 100-point milestone? (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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UPCOMING GAMEDAYS

Friday (March 15, 7:00pm) vs. Sault Ste. Marie (42-16-3-2, 3rd in Western Conference)

The Greyhounds are the only team London has not beaten this season, and they’ll get one final opportunity in the regular season on Friday. Following a pair of narrow wins over the Knights, the Greyhounds dominated London in their most recent meeting — which ended London’s lengthy run of games securing at least a point. Gavin Hayes has been an absolute weapon since joining the Soo. He has points in seven straight with four goals and 11 points over that stretch. He’s four goals away from hitting 40 for the second straight season. Another great pickup for the Soo this year has been Jack Beck, who leads the team with 82 points. The Greyhounds have the second most shorthanded goals this season with 19. They scored twice with a man down the last time they played London.

Sunday (March 17, 4:05pm) @ Windsor Spitfires (18-36-5-3, 10th in Western Conference)

The Spitfires are out of the playoff picture — but they can spoil the first-place party, as two of London’s four remaining games are against Windsor. This year will mark the first time Windsor will not make the playoffs since 2015. The Knights have scored 28 goals in their four wins against the Spitfires so far this season. Easton Cowan has nine points in the season series, while Ruslan Gazizov and Denver Barkey have eight apiece. Liam Greentree, who has three goals over his last two games, leads the Spits with 33 this season.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

A LOOK AT THE LOCALS

Dylan Roobroeck has scored goals in six straight for the Oshawa Generals. He has 14 points over his last seven games to help the Generals move into first place in the Eastern Conference.

Ryan Roobroeck, the younger brother of Dylan, has five goals in his last six games for the Niagara IceDogs, giving the 16-year-old 26 goals on the season.

Will Bishop has two goals and an assist over his last four games with the Saginaw Spirit.

KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS

107 - The Knights have scored 107 goals on special teams this season — 79 on the powerplay, and 28 coming while shorthanded.

60 - Easton Cowan has 88 points this season, 60 of which have come during his current 32-game point streak.

1,023 - No team has collected more penalty minutes than the London Knights have this season with 1023. They’re the only team to hit four digits, and they’re nearly 100 ahead of the next highest team. It’s the most penalty minutes by a team since the 2015-16 Barrie Colts had 1,051.

16 - Kasper Halttunen scored his league leading 16th powerplay goal in Wednesday’s win over Erie.

AROUND THE OHL

The OHL has shortened the suspensions for two Sudbury Wolves players following an appeal from the OHL club. Nathan Villeneuve and Evan Konyen were originally suspended 15 and 10 games, respectively. Following the appeal, Villeneuve will split his suspension between this year and next, allowing him to play in the playoffs. Konyen’s suspension, meanwhile, has been reduced to six games. The pair were originally suspended following a bounty-related investigation by the league.

The Erie Otters have clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2017. That was also the last time all three American teams qualified for the postseason. Flint clinched a spot with a win Wednesday, so all three teams are in for 2024.

The Sarnia Sting and Windsor Spitfires will both miss out on the playoffs this season. It’ll be the first time since 2015 for Windsor, and the first since 2014 for the Sting.

It’s going to be a dogfight for the bottom four playoff positions in the Western Conference, and it will likely go down to the final weekend. Just two points separate fifth and eighth place, with Owen Sound, Erie, Guelph and Flint all jostling for position.