Can Knights, the new No. 1, keep win streak alive?

Knight Watch: London gets Peterborough and Erie this weekend — and then another showdown vs. Kitchener Tuesday; Halttunen hot on offense; Van Gorp a recent revelation? Columnist Jake Jeffrey has the latest Knights news & notes …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

* * *

The London Knights have taken over top spot in the OHL following two solid wins over the former top dogs, the Kitchener Rangers.

Last weekend, the Knights doubled up the Rangers, 4-2, in Kitchener on Friday, and then dominated play at home Saturday, skating to a lopsided 10-3 victory.

Besides the goals, Saturday’s win had plenty of fireworks, as there were six fights in total, and both teams had a player receive additional discipline from the league. London’s Jackson Edward received a two-game suspension, while Kitchener’s Matthew Andonovski got a three-game ban.

London is one of the more physical teams in the OHL this season, and Kitchener clearly wanted to send a message that they won’t be pushed around. That sets things up quite nicely for next Tuesday when the two teams play each other again. It should make for an eventful evening at the Aud.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, the Knights have two this weekend, first hosting the reigning OHL champion Peterborough Petes Friday night in a rematch of last year’s final, and then a road contest Saturday in Erie against an Otters team that has two wins over London this season.

Heading into the weekend, London has a one-point lead on Kitchener for first place in the Western Conference, and they’re two points up on the West Division-leading Soo Greyhounds. Those will be the two teams to keep an eye on down the stretch as the trio jostle over the top three spots. London has two more games against both teams, including the aforementioned matchup with Kitchener next week.

London’s special teams continues to be a driving force for the team — both offensively and defensively. The Knights have the league’s best powerplay (33.9%), and second best penalty kill (84.0%), while scoring a league-high 19 shorthanded goals.

Jacob Julien has quietly been on a nice stretch lately. The Winnipeg Jets prospect has six goals and 11 assists during his current nine-game point streak. Evan Van Gorp, meanwhile, is finding his groove. Since the rookie forward scored his first OHL goal, he has nine points over his last eight games — with six of those points being goals. 

As their winning streak climbed to 14 games, the Knights remained in top spot in the OHL power rankings this week. They’ve scored an eye-popping 39 goals over their last five games.

Since the calendar turned to 2024, Knights rookie Evan Van Gorp has points in five of eight games (9pts), including a two-goal, three-point contest last Saturday (Jan. 20) vs. Kitchener. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

* * *

UPCOMING GAMEDAYS

Friday (Jan. 26, 7:00pm) vs. Peterborough Petes (15-22-4-1, 5th in East Division)

This is a rematch of last year’s OHL Finals, but it’s a much different Petes team than London met last spring. Peterborough is now in their rebuild phase following last year’s championship, so they’ll be bringing a much younger team to Budweiser Gardens. Jonathan Melee is the only Pete with double digit goals (12) this season. At the deadline, the Petes added three first-round picks from the 2023 draft, including Londoner Aiden Young from Saginaw, Caden Taylor from Sudbury, and Nico Addy from Owen Sound. Along with their 13th overall pick, Carson Cameron, that gives Peterborough four first rounders from that draft class. Young is a former London Junior Knight and scored his first goal as a Pete Thursday night.

Saturday (Jan. 27, 7:00pm) @ Erie Otters (20-18-4-0, 5th in Midwest Division)

The Otters have a pair of wins over the Knights this season — although London did win their latest meeting earlier this month. Carey Terrance missed that game for Erie, as he was at the World Juniors with Team USA. He’s scored four goals in two games against the Knights this season. Owain Johnston has 13 assists this season, and five of those have come against London. Ben Gaudreau was in net for both of Erie’s wins over London. The overage netminder has 74 career OHL wins. The Otters have distanced themselves from the battle for the final playoff spot and are currently jostling with Owen Sound for 6th in the conference. Pano Fimis leads the team with 50 points. He’s also one of the OHL’s best in the faceoff circle. Malcolm Spence has 42 points this season, and he would be a top prospect for this year’s NHL draft if he’d been born eight days earlier.

Tuesday (Jan. 30, 7:00pm) @ Kitchener Rangers (30-13-2-0, 2nd in Midwest Division)

Heading into this weekend, only two teams have scored more than 200 goals this season: London and Kitchener. The Knights put up 10 last Sunday against the Rangers in a very physical game in which the officials had a difficult time keeping things under control. The two teams combined for 118 penalty minutes in a game that saw six fights and a pair of game misconducts. Expect some of that to carry over, but the Rangers will want to make an impact on the scoreboard more so than the penalty box this time around. London did an excellent job at limiting Kitchener’s big guns last weekend. Carson Rehkopf and Hunter Brzustewicz have combined for 134 points this season, but each were held to an assist each over the two games last weekend. Filip Mesar was injured midway through Friday’s game and did not play in London Saturday. His injury was likely one of the catalysts for the hostility between the two teams Saturday night.

A LOOK AT THE LOCALS

At the CHL Top Prospects Game this week, Guelph Storm forward Jett Luchanko recorded an assist and impressed during the on-ice testing.

Brantford Bulldogs forward Noah Nelson has two goals and four points over his last three games.

Charlie Robertson recorded his first win as a Niagara IceDog, turning aside 34 shots to help beat his former team, the North Bay Battalion.

Former London Junior Knight Harrison Franssen has signed with the Oshawa Generals. Currently the captain of the GOJHL’s St. Thomas Stars, Franssen was a ninth-round pick by Oshawa in the 2022 OHL draft.

Ryan Roobroeck scored a pair of goals for the Niagara IceDogs Thursday night. The second overall pick in the 2023 draft now leads all OHL rookies with 15 goals.

Goaltender Matthew Koprowski signed with the Owen Sound Attack Thursday afternoon and made his OHL debut later that day, stopping 26 shots in relief as the Attack fell to Barrie. Koprowski is playing this season with the GOJHL’s Komoka Kings.

KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS

118 - London and Kitchener combined for 118 penalty minutes in their fight-filled affair at Budweiser Gardens last Saturday.

18 - Kasper Halltunen’s 18-game point streak is the longest active streak in the OHL. He’s one game away from tying North Bay’s Anthony Romani for the longest point streak this season. The San Jose Sharks prospect has 14 goals and 26 points over the 18-game stretch.

89 - London has scored 89 goals during their current 14-game winning streak (an average of 6.36 per game).

19 - Oliver Bonk has certainly made his case to be the OHL Defenseman of the Month. In January, the Philadelphia Flyers prospect has eight goals and 19 points in seven games. He is third in scoring overall among OHL defenseman.

128 - The London Knights have allowed the second fewest goals in the OHL this season.

AROUND THE OHL

Nineteen OHLers skated at the CHL Top Prospects Game in Moncton, NB this week, including a pair of Knights, Sam Dickinson and Sam O’Reilly, as well as local product Jett Luchanko.

The Knights top the OHL Power Rankings for a second straight week. They are followed by Saginaw, the Soo, Kitchener, and North Bay.

The Guelph Storm have suffered another huge blow to their blueline, as Michael Buchinger will be out for 6-8 weeks as he undergoes surgery. He has 29 points in 40 games this season. Washington Capitals prospect Cam Allen has yet to play this season, and rookie Quinn Beauchesne has been out since October.