Knights tell Ice Dogs to chill

That’s four straight for the London Knights.

The Knights overcame a slow first two periods – trailing by a goal – only to come alive in the third, rallying for a big 3-1 win over the Niagara Ice Dogs.

Co-Captain Mitch Marner potted a pair to up his goal total to 32 on the year, the first of which will be seen on highlight reels all across the country.

As Marner collected a pass deep in Ice Dogs’ territory, he made a nifty dangle – sliding the puck between his legs, off his skate and around multiple defenders before faking a wraparound and tucking it short-side on an outstretched Alex Nedeljkovic.

It not only tied the game and energized the team, but it could potentially go down as goal of the year.

“I work on that move quite a bit in practice and on-ice in the summer time,” a modest Marner said. “You just gotta hope for the best, and it worked out for me there.”

Owen McDonald sealed the deal with the late empty netter.

It was an otherwise quiet night between the pipes on both sides. Knights backup Brendan Burke got the start and played well, stopping 18 of 19 shots he faced to help London earn it’s 38th win of the season.

In what was a relatively low scoring game, Marner felt his team did everything they had to in order to come out on top.

“We’ve got a great team here – we know what we need to do,” Marner said. “If everyone’s blocking shots out there – it makes you want to block a shot. You just try and get into those lanes as much as possible and make it easy on Burkie”

Burke looked at the game as a statement win against a tough opponent.

“That’s a really tough team; I mean they’re a contender out East so to hold them to under 20 shots – that’s a good night!”

The win places London just four points back of the Erie Otters for 1st place in the OHL and they can inch even closer tonight, should they beat Sarnia.

The Sting have not beaten London in 17 straight tries.