Knights beat Battalion in OT

London, ON – John Erskine collected four points – including the winning goal with a little over a minute remaining in overtime – and Chris Kelly scored a hat trick to lead the hometown London Knights to a 5-4 victory over the Battalion in front of 3,379 at the Ice House.

The Battalion had erased a 4-2 deficit with less than two minutes remaining to force the extra frame but a costly bench penalty in overtime gave the Knights a rare overtime power play and Erskine converted a Krys Barch pass with a blast from just inside the blueline that cleanly beat Brampton goaltender David Chant.

The Knights opened the scoring in the first period on the power play when Chris Kelly beat a screened Chant with a shot from the point. Despite incurring four penalties in the first period, the Battalion tied the game just before the end of the frame when Scott Thompson scored his 15th of the year from Jay McClement and Tyler Hanchuck. It initially looked as if McClement had scored the goal after eluding two Knights defenders and sliding the puck between Gene Chiarello’s legs but replays later showed Thompson had positioned himself behind London goaltender and tipped the puck in.

Brampton opened the second period shorthanded and London managed to stretch their lead to 2-1 with another power play goal. The Knights intercepted an errant clearing pass by Battalion defenceman Jason Maleyko and Krys Barch pushed the puck by Tyler Hanchuck to Brett Gibson who skated in all alone and beat Chant. Chris Kelly picked up his second of the night when he received a beautiful drop back pass from Barch and buried the puck over Chant’s right shoulder.

The Battalion was outshot 21-18 after two periods but had several chances to score. Aaron VanLeusen was robbed by a sliding Gene Chiarello during an early power play and a short time later Maleyko hit the crossbar with a wrist shot.

Brampton forced the issue against the Knights in the third frame but were unable to foil Chiarello until Raffi Torres scored his 36th of the season at 13:12. Scott Thompson brought the puck in to Chiarello’s right, patiently waited for London defenceman Dan Jancevski to take himself out of position and slid the puck to Torres who beat Chiarello cleanly. Torres’ goal established a new Battalion record for most goals in a season and marked the eighth straight game in which Torres has scored at least one goal. The previous high this season in the OHL had been seven games.

The Knights countered Torres’ marker less than four minutes later to restore their two-goal lead when Chris Kelly picked up his third of the night. Kelly, who had a step on Brampton defenceman Rostislav Klesla waited for Mike Stathopulos to draw Jay Harrison out of position, and effortlessly slid Stathopulos’ feed past Chant.

Shortly after Kelly’s goal, Scott Thompson’s hard one-timer was gloved by Chiarello but the Battalion kept pressing and were rewarded at 18:34 with the Battalion on the power play when Klesla’s point shot eluded Chiarello. It looked like the puck might have been tipped in by Aaron VanLeusen but the goal was credited to Klesla, who collected his 12th of the season.

With the Knights lead now cut to a goal, Battalion coach Stan Butler pulled Chant in favour of an extra attacker and the strategy paid off when Jay McClement picked up his second goal of the night, swatting a bouncing pass from Jeff Bateman by Chiarello with 1:04 remaining to play.

Chant was forced to come up big in the extra period with the Battalion a man short after picking up a minor for too many men. Brett Gibson couldn’t control a rolling puck with an open net to shoot at and just when it looked like Brampton had killed the penalty, John Erskine blew a slap shot past Chant.

Despite the loss, Brampton (20-28-7-4) picks up a valuable point in the Western Conference playoff race. The Battalion is now tied for third in the Midwest Division with Guelph after the Storm was beaten 4-3 Friday by the Kitchener Rangers. Brampton is now eight points ahead of the Owen Sound Platers for the last playoff spot in the conference. The Platers defeated the Erie Otters 4-0 at home on Friday night. London (16-29-7-3), who are now unbeaten in their last four games, remain in last place in the West Division. The Knights will travel to Plymouth on Saturday to face the surging Whalers.

The Battalion will play London for the final time this season on March 2 at the Bunker. The Knights have won two of the three games the teams have played this season.

The Battalion will be in Bolton on Saturday for a practice and autograph session in conjunction with the Caledon Minor Hockey Association. Brampton Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Stan Butler will conduct a one-hour, off-day practice and provide instruction for local players and coaches. The troops return to action on Sunday at the Bunker against the Owen Sound Platers. Game time is 2:p.m.