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London’s strong play down the stretch earned them home ice advantage for the first round of the OHL playoffs. Now, they’ll look to get past Sault Ste. Marie and into a Western Conference semi-final.
With a strong finish to the regular season, the London Knights managed to clinch home ice advantage in their first round playoff series against the Soo Greyhounds, which begins Friday at Canada Life Place.
London won seven of its final 10 games, and with the Greyhounds losing seven of their last 12, the Knights were able to leapfrog them into a fourth place finish in the Western Conference.
Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman says the club was certainly chasing home ice advantage through the last couple of weeks of the season, and they’re happy with the result.
“That was a big win for us to get home ice advantage. There’s no better place to be on a Friday night than Canada Life Place with our fans,” Steadman told Gameday London. “Any little advantage you can get against a team like this helps.”
First round matchups don’t get much tighter than this one. Just a single point separated the two teams in the standings. The Knights did win three out of the four games this season, but two of those contests needed a shootout, and all three of London’s victories were decided by one goal.
“All the games we played against them were battles. We’re expecting it to be a bit of a chess match back and forth,” Steadman said. “We’ll stick to our game, we’ll play hard and make them go 200 feet and see what happens.”
Marco Mignosa led the Soo in scoring this year with 35 goals and 89 points, the sixth highest point total in the OHL this season. After him, though, there’s a fairly significant drop off in production, with Christopher Brown’s 59 points being the second most on the team.
Brady Martin played at a point-per-game pace, but he saw action in just 24 games with the Soo this season. He didn’t make his season debut until the end of October after starting the year in the NHL with Nashville, and then he played just 11 games after hurting his shoulder at the World Juniors.
Chase Reid, one of the highest rated defencemen ahead of this year’s NHL draft, had 48 points this season, 12th most among OHL blueliners.
The Soo’s biggest trade deadline addition was Canada’s World Junior goaltender Carter George, who the Knights are more than familiar with from his time with the Owen Sound Attack.
Steadman says they know that his play can change the course of a series.
“He’s a great goaltender. We’ve seen him before in the playoffs, so we know what he can do,” the coach said. “We need to do those things that can get into goalies’ heads: get traffic in front of him, get lots of shots and find rebounds, and get in around the blue paint as much as you can. Try to get in his head a little bit rather than the other way around.”
London’s goaltending situation isn’t as clear cut. Sebastian Gatto handled a bulk of the workload down the stretch, but Steadman said the Knights were going to assess the situation throughout practice during the week and make a decision on a starter Friday.
There are 11 players on the Knights’ roster who will be seeing their first OHL playoff action, including leading scorer Ryan Brown. Steadman says the team has been leaning on its leadership group of Henry Brzustewicz, William Nicholl and Jesse Nurmi to get the newer players up to speed.
“They know the type of battle it can be and what it takes to be successful (in the playoffs). You have to bring your game up a notch, do the little things right, and know that every time you step on the ice it matters,” he said. “Those guys carry a lot of minutes and do a lot of leadership stuff in the room and away from the ice. It’s huge having guys like that to lead the way.”
The Knights hold a slight edge in the special teams department, with the ninth ranked powerplay (operating at 21.6%) and the league’s fifth best penalty kill (80.2%). The Greyhounds’ powerplay was 13th best at 19.8%, and their penalty kill was 10th with a 78.8% success rate.
“The game gets so much tighter in the playoffs,” Steadman said. “You typically don’t see as many penalties, but you need to be ready any chance you get so that you can take advantage of it.”
Despite two franchises with rich histories in this league, the Knights and Greyhounds have only met in the playoffs three times: 1988, 2006, and 2007, with the Knights coming out on top in all three meetings.
Brody Cook will miss Friday’s series opener as he serves the final game of his five game suspension.
UPCOMING GAMEDAYS
OHL Playoffs (First Round): London Knights (4) vs. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (5)
Game 1 – Friday, March 27 at London, 7:00pm
Game 2 – Sunday, March 29 at London, 6:00pm
Game 3 – Tuesday, March 31 at Sault Ste. Marie, 8:07pm
Game 4 – Wednesday, April 1 at Sault Ste. Marie, 7:07pm
Game 5 – Friday, April 3 at London, 7:00pm (if necessary)
Game 6 – Sunday, April 5 at Sault Ste. Marie, 7:07pm (if necessary)
Game 7 – Tuesday, April 7 at London, 7:00pm (if necessary)
AROUND THE OHL
Playoff Predictions:
Eastern Conference
(1) Brantford vs (8) Sudbury
No team recorded more points or scored more goals than Brantford did this season. They’d be a clear cut favourite against the majority of the league and should make quick work of Sudbury.
(2) Barrie vs (7) Niagara
The IceDogs are a tougher matchup than your typical 7th seed, but the Barrie Colts won 45 games this season. They present the biggest challenge to Brantford in the Eastern Conference and should be able to get by Niagara in five games.
(3) Ottawa vs (6) Kingston
The 67’s quietly put up a 100-point season, one of only three teams to reach the century mark this year. I give them the edge in this one, although Kingston may stretch the series out to five or six games.
(4) Peterborough vs (5) North Bay
Similar to London and the Soo, the 4th vs 5th matchup in the East is expected to be very tight. The Petes managed 40 wins for the first time since 2027, and I give them a slight edge on North Bay, although I see the series going six or seven games.
Western Conference
(1) Kitchener vs (8) Saginaw
The Rangers are a juggernaut this season, and I can’t see Saginaw slowing them down. I expect Kitchener to handle the Spirit in four games.
(2) Windsor vs (7) Guelph
The Spitfires clinched the West Division on the final day of the regular season, giving them a favourable matchup against Guelph. Windsor should be able to handle this series in four or five games.
(3) Flint vs (6) Owen Sound
The Firebirds won 45 games and reached 95 points. Both totals are the most since the team moved to Flint in 2015. I can see Owen Sound stealing a game or two, but Flint should be the first team to four wins.
