London Knights blast Peterborough 10-2 for fifth win in six games

Jaxon Cover recorded his first Ontario Hockey League hat trick as the London Knights defeated the Peterborough Petes 10-2 on Jan. 25 at Canada Life Place.

Three other players had three-point afternoons as Braidy Wassilyn scored twice and added an assist, while Rene Van Bommel and Jesse Nurmi each recorded a goal and two assists.

Ryan Brown stayed hot as the Knights forward scored early to give London a 1-0 lead on a pass from Evan Van Gorp.

Brown now has six goals in his past four games and seven in his past six.

The Knights scored again at the eight-minute mark as Cover snapped a shot past Easton Rye for his second goal in two games. Cover tied the Jan. 23 game against Sarnia with a backhand shot in the third period.

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Londoner Brennan Faulkner cut the Knights’ lead in half at 15:05 of the first period when his shot found its way through a crowd and into the Knight net.

Faulkner is a forward but was playing defence due to all kinds of injuries on the Petes’ blue line.

Peterborough was missing captain Carson Cameron, along with James Petrovski, Grayden Strohack and Thanassi Marentette.

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Wassilyn’s 14th goal of the season made it 3-1 for London with under three minutes remaining in the first period. Wassilyn wristed in a Van Bommel feed that came from behind the net.

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A hard Henry Brzustewicz wrist shot made it 4-1 for the Knights at the 4:25 mark of the second period and then a hard slap shot from Jacob Xu helped to create the fifth London goal. The shot knocked Rye backward as he made the save and Cover scored his second of the game and 13th of the year on the rebound.

Wassilyn fired in his team-leading 15th goal at 12:48 of the middle period to extend the Knights’ lead.

Before the end of the second, Cover completed his hat trick and made it 8-1. He showed off his hands by whacking a rebound past Masen Johnston who had entered the Peterborough net in relief of Rye.

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Nurmi pushed London to a season-high nine goals with a steal early in the third period before the Petes scored their second of the game on a power play less than four minutes later.

That was the first third period goal London had surrendered with a goalie in the net since Jan. 2.

Wassilyn fed Van Bommel at 11:10 to hit double digits on the scoreboard and finish the scoring on the day.

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The Petes actually outshot the Knights 40-31.

Peterborough was 1-for-2 on the man advantage.

London did not have a power play in the game.

Bouchard puts up six points in a game

Former London Knights captain Evan Bouchard had himself a night in a 6-5 overtime victory against the Washington Capitals.

Bouchard scored the first three goals for the Edmonton Oilers and added three assists after that making him just the third Oiler defenceman – along with Paul Coffey and Kevin Lowe – to ever have that kind of an offensive output in a single game.

Coffey and Tom Bladon hold the record for most points by a defender in a single game with eight. Bobby Orr had seven.

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Bouchard is currently tied for most points by an NHL defenceman this season with Zach Werensky and Cale Makar. All three have 55.

In one other note about former Knights defenders, Isaiah George has been recalled by the New York Islanders and played in New York’s game against Buffalo on Jan. 24.

Up next

London will play a third consecutive home game on Friday, Jan. 30 against the North Bay Battalion.

The Battalion defeated the Knights 5-2 in North Bay on Nov. 20 in the only other meeting between the teams this season.

Coverage will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio or Radioplayer Canada app.