London Knights storm back, rip Game 1 away from Saginaw Spirit

Kasper Halttunen loves basketball.

The London Knights forward watched ‘The Last Dance’ Netflix documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls at least five times. On Friday, he scored a pair of clutch third-period goals 1:54 apart to dunk on the Saginaw Spirit 3-1 in the OHL Western Conference opener before 9,036 at Budweiser Gardens.

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The winner was essentially an alley-oop play after an errant shot by teammate Sam Dickinson caromed back out in front from the end boards.

“I felt like (iconic Bull) Dennis Rodman,” the 18-year-old Finn said with a grin. “I saw the rebound, came for the boards and saw the puck coming and tried to get it over the pad” of Spirit goalie Nolan Lalonde.

“It went in.”

Saginaw coach Chris Lazary called it lucky.

“It comes off the end wall and bounces perfectly onto (Halttunen’s) stick,” he said.

But you have to be good to be lucky. Those old 1990s Bulls knew that during their six NBA championship runs.

Halttunen leads the Knights with eight playoff goals. He was one of the OHL’s best power-play scorers this season and can hammer a puck with the best of them.

“He kind of carried us in the third period,” Knights mate Max McCue said. “He scores goals for us in big moments. He’s a threat on the power play and 5-on-5 in the offensive zone and proved it there.”

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TURNING POINT: The Knights trailed early and couldn’t connect on several good chances in tight. Some of that, of course, was the rust of not playing for eight days after the Kitchener sweep.

But they eventually started to turn up the heat on the Spirit and pounced on a rare miscue. Usually sure-handed Saginaw center Matyas Sapovaliv was called for a delay of game penalty for flipping the puck over the glass from the defensive zone. It cost the visitors on Halttunen’s tying goal and a lot of momentum.

“It comes down to that penalty we take,” Lazary said. “We have tons of time and end up shooting the puck out of play. We have to calm down in this environment and make some plays. We’ll be fine going into Game 2.”

Did that seven-gamer against the Soo take its toll in the second half Friday?

“Not at all,” Lazary said.

LEONARD OUT: London stalwart defenseman Jackson Edward was a surprising scratch because of personal reasons. That absence was magnified when fellow d-man Alec Leonard slammed hard into the end boards after getting tangled up with a Spirit forward and was forced to leave in the second period.

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Knights coach Dale Hunter declared him day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Leonard wasn’t able to move one of his legs under his own power, but still declined a stretcher and departed with the assistance of his teammates.

“He is a huge piece,” McCue said. “He plays hard every single shift. It sucks. It hurts our team. Hopefully, he’s fine for the next game. (If not), we have a bunch of solid guys who can step in and hopefully fill his role.”

Will Edward be back to suit up Sunday?

“I don’t know,” Dale Hunter said. “Young kids had to play more (rookies Henry Brzustewicz and Jared Woolley) and they played well. They stepped up.”

AROUND THE RINK: London has won nine straight playoff games and 16 in a row dating back to the regular season. This is one of the most impressive starts in OHL playoff history. . . The Knights went 1-3 on the man advantage and Saginaw was 0-4, including over a minute of 5-on-3 time. The Spirit’s power play has not produced at the level of its talent this spring. “We’re going to keep what we’re trying to do on our internal power play,” Lazary said. “It’s going to be better. It has to be better. Bottom line.” . . . McCue went 8-for-13 on faceoffs, but Sapovaliv was tough to beat in the final few minutes with Lalonde pulled for an extra attacker. “He’s good at the dot,” McCue said of the Vegas prospect. “All their centers are pretty good. We’re going to have to bear down more and win more draws moving forward. We gave them too many chances on the power play. Our penalty kill did a helluva job blocking shots and Mike (Simpson) played outstanding in net.” . . . Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke and star d-man Zayne Parekh did not dress Friday. Lazary said before the series they were both close to returning. . . Knights grad Logan Mailloux, who made his NHL debut with Montreal earlier this month, returned to the Bud and wound up the crowd early with the pre-game siren. . . London’s Jacob Julien would have had the goal of the playoffs if he completed a spinning play through two Saginaw defensemen in the first period. He wasn’t able to finish it. . . The Knights played host to 13 of their prospects from the past two OHL drafts. . . Easton Cowan’s empty netter was his first goal since Game 3 of the Flint series in the opening round. He had a ton of chances and five shots in the opener.

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OHL PLAYOFFS

Knights 3, Spirit 1
(London leads best-of-seven Western conference final 1-0)
London goals: Kasper Halttunen (2), Easton Cowan
Saginaw goal: Rodwin Dionicio

Next: Game 2 is Sunday, 2 pm at Budweiser Gardens.

At Budweiser Gardens, Friday

Knights 3, Spirit 1

First period
1., Saginaw, Dionicio 4 (Sapovaliv, Haight) 16:01
Penalties – Cowan, Ldn (hooking) 13:29, Julien, Ldn (roughing) 14:18, Bloom, Sag (slashing) 15:27, Gervais, Sag, McCue, Ldn (roughing) 17:59.

Second period
No scoring.
Penalties – McCue, Ldn (slashing) 8:47, Halttunen, Ldn (roughing) 14:06, Hache, Sag (holding) 20:00.

Third period
2. London, Halttunen 7 (Cowan, Barkey) 11:45 (pp)
3. London, Halttunen 8 (Dickinson, Nicholl) 13:39
4. London, Cowan 3 (Dickinson, Barkey) 19:40 (en)
Penalties – Sapovaliv, Sag (delay of game) 10:41, Dionicio, Sag (10-minute misconduct) 19:40.

Shots on goal by
Saginaw 13 9 9–31
London 6 12 12–30

Power plays: Sag 0-4. Ln 1-3.

Goalies: Lalonde, Sag (L, 3-4). Simpson, Ldn (W, 9-0).

Referees – Jason Faist, Mac Nichol. Linesmen – Brian Birkhoff, Justin Noble.

Attendance – 9,036 (9,036).

Three stars: 1. Kasper Halttunen, Knights; 2. Michael Simpson, Knights; 3. Sam Dickinson, Knights

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