Erie Otters edge London Knights in a shoot to begin Thanksgiving weekend

The Erie Otters defeated the London Knights 4-3 in a shootout on Oct. 9 at Canada Life Place.

London got off to its fastest start of the year with itheir first goals of the season in an opening period, but the Otters found a way back twice to force the game beyond regulation time.

Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman pointed to self-inflicted wounds as a key factor in how the game ended up.

“We seem to get momentum and then we kill it ourselves just by not getting pucks deep, passing into traffic or turning the puck over,” said Steadman.

After Cohen Bidgood and Carson Harmer combined to find Eloan Le Gallic for his third goal of the season at the 11:03 mark of the first period, Bidgood snatched a puck that bounced to the side of the Erie net and jammed it in. London was ahead 2-0 through the first 20 minutes.

The second period settled into a good ebb and flow for the Knights.

Aleksei Medvedev was called on to make some big saves at times, but with under five minutes left in the period, London still had its two-goal lead.

An Erie power play changed that.

Michael Dec hit the post for the second time in the game, but this time the puck got caught up in traffic in front of the Knights net. It eventually dropped into the crease, where Otters forward McLean Agrette chipped it in to cut the London lead to 2-1.

Just 47 seconds later, Gairin Michalski picked off a pass in the Knights zone and scored his first OHL goal to tie the game.

Thomas Zocco stayed hot for London, scoring his fifth goal in five games on a power play 6:01 into the third period, but Erie came back again.

Seventeen-year-old Broden McArthur carried the puck across the London blue line and snapped a low shot through bodies and sticks with 3:53 remaining in the third. That sent the game to overtime and, eventually, a shootout.

That certainly wasn’t the script the Knights had in mind after leading twice. Still, Steadman felt the team showed what can happen when it executes the way it wants to.

“I think we’ve just got to get down in there and cycle the puck and be heavy and win some battles, and good things will happen, and they did tonight when we did do that.”

The shootout went four rounds before Otters rookie import Paul Schuster ended it.

Erie outshot London 39-31.

The Knights were 1-for-7 on the power play.

The Otters went 1-for-3.

The teams will meet again in eight days in Erie.

London is now 4-1-0-1 on the year, and Erie is 4-2-1-0 in what is becoming a very competitive Midwest Division.