Easton Cowan and Jacob Julien each scored twice and Denver Barkey and Sam Dickinson each had four assists as the London Knights extended their winning streak to double digits with a 5-3 victory over the Sarnia Sting on Nov.15 at Canada Life Place.
London has now won 10 straight games and 13 of their past 14.
And the team’s winning streak wasn’t the only streak that continued.
Cowan kept his regular season run alive and hit the big 5-0.
Cowan had come within 21.9 seconds of seeing his regular season scoring streak end against the Guelph Storm on Nov. 10 before he scored an empty-net goal to extend it to 49 consecutive games.
The Maple Leafs prospect got a chance to hit 50 much earlier against the Sting and made good. Cowan drilled a Denver Barkey pass into the back of the Sarnia net on a Knights power play 4:02 of the opening period to tie the game 1-1.
Fifty games tied Cowan with Alexander Radulov on the Canadian Hockey League list of longest stretches with at least one point in every game. Radulov went 50 games with the Quebec Remparts in 2005-06.
The only players in CHL history with longer streaks are Jimmy Fox at 52 and Doug Gilmout with 55.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
Cowan’s goal came after Zach Filak had opened the scoring just 2:51 into the game.
The first goal of the second period was scored by a Londoner but not a London Knight.
A turnover in the London zone led to a quick-developing two-on-oh for Sarnia where former Knight Kaedon Johnston found Beckham Edwards and he deposited the puck behind Alexei Medvedev for a 2-1 Sting.
The goal got the attention of the London side as they cashed in on another power play as Barkey and Sam Dickinson combined to set up Cowan from the right side of the ice at the 16:09 mark of the second period.
Barkey and Dickinson recorded their third assists of the game with 8.3 seconds remaining in the middle period as Dickinson got a puck ahead to Barkey. Barkey then slid a beautiful little pass to Will Nicholl who got in behind the Sarnia defence and then slid a puck through Nick Surzycia in the Sting net and the Knights carried a 3-2 lead into the final 20 minutes.
Julien got his first of the game at 4:41 of the third period as he fired home a ricochet off a goal post from the left side of the Sarnia end.
Time ticked down under a minute and with the goalie pulled, the Sting got a goal from Zach Filak to tighten the score to 4-3 but London responded right off the faceoff with less than 30 seconds to go as Dickinson flipped a puck down the ice that Barkey raced after to beat out an icing.
Barkey did beat out the icing and then fed Julien for his second of the game and that sealed things for the Knights.
London outshot Sarnia 43-23.
The Knights stayed atop the power play rankings in the OHL by going 2-for-3.
They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and score short-handed in the process.
San Jose Sharks return Kasper Halttunen to London Knights
After scoring 17 goals in 18 playoff games to lead all goal scorers and to help lead the London Knights to a 2024 OHL Championship, Kasper Halttunen is coming back for an encore. The San Jose Sharks announced on Nov. 15 that they had reassigned Halttunen to London for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. Halttunen began the year with the San Jose Barracudea of the American Hockey League where he put up two goals and four points in six games.
Up next
The Knights return to Guelph to face the Storm on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m.
The teams combined for 15 goals in an 8-7 London victory on Nov. 10.
Evan Van Gorp had a goal and four assists for a career high five points in that game while Max Nemestnikov had four goals for Guelph.
Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
