London Knights 2018-19 Season Thread (Part 9)

[TheCoach]

looks like Sundays game isn't televised they have the Nationals game listed on the guide

 

[zman77]

Knights ride out rough stretch by believing in themselves

Ryan Pyette
Updated: February 22, 2019
The Knights are always in a constant state of self-analysis.
But the last few weeks of muddling through mediocrity felt a little bit different.
This was the first time London had faced any real adversity all season. It’s normal, healthy and just might make them better over the long run.
“I think it’s huge for us,” said third-year forward Liam Foudy, who sparked a 4-2 victory over the rebuilding defending OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs before 9,036 Friday at Budweiser Gardens. “In the playoffs, every team faces adversity. It doesn’t matter how good you are and having this is (important) moving forward.”
They were bummed out by losing to Erie, Mississauga and Peterborough over the last week, but they didn’t have any blow-out-the-barn-door meetings or major speeches. They just went back to work and believed in their ability.
Captain Evan Bouchard made a couple of spectacular setup feeds and it’s clear he thrives on the volume of ice time he enjoyed last season. His minutes were up largely because of the frequency of penalties on both sides. “It’s dictated by how the game goes,” Steadman said. “We don’t want to get him up there (in the 30-minute range) too early and tire him out. But at this time of year, you want to give your best players more opportunities”
“It’s nice to pull through this with a full-team effort,” Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman said. “It shows how much everybody cares. These kinds of things bring a team together when you go through a battle like we did recently.”
Knights ride out rough stretch by believing in themselves

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

I wasn’t able to watch the game but I heard he went knee on knee with Mutter. Did he return after the hit?

I was very disappointed nobody went after Mutter. It should have been a 5 and a game...it was blatant intent to injure as Mutter went directly for Stranges and directly at his knee. Hoping for some revenge next Saturday

 

[aresknights]

I was very disappointed nobody went after Mutter. It should have been a 5 and a game...it was blatant intent to injure as Mutter went directly for Stranges and directly at his knee. Hoping for some revenge next Saturday

I was hoping someone would as well. We will see. It is how Mutter plays "on the edge" if you will .
But I have seen him "settle down" when there is pushback.
Not talking fighting.

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

I was hoping someone would as well. We will see. It is how Mutter plays "on the edge" if you will .
But I have seen him "settle down" when there is pushback.
Not talking fighting.

I don't mind edgy players or a player that rides the fine line, but that was premeditated and as predatory a hit as I have seen. I wanted to see a pound of flesh. Very disappointed no Knight balled up. Lost a lot of respect for the so called "leaders" on this team. I noticed Mutter never took another shift.

 

[aresknights]

Agreed. Same page here.
Just saying he will play on the edge (fine with me as well) but also step over it and has in the past, will again in the future. (not fine with me)
But when someone steps up to him and answers in whatever way, he will stop running around like a "tough" guy.

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

Agreed. Same page here.
Just saying he will play on the edge (fine with me as well) but also step over it and has in the past, will again in the future. (not fine with me)
But when someone steps up to him and answers in whatever way, he will stop running around like a "tough" guy.

So in other words...he goes from Mutter to "Butter" when the heat is on. Even less respect now

 

[GobigorGohome]

I'll be honest we deserved to lose that one...but its nice to get the win.....keep moving ! I thought Foudy played well....I dont recall seeing the 4th line at all

Really?
The Knights were the better team tonight.
They Deserved the win.

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

Really?
The Knights were the better team tonight.
They Deserved the win.

They looked VERY disorganized for most of the game. It's become more of a habit than a trend.

 

[Otto]

I don't mind edgy players or a player that rides the fine line, but that was premeditated and as predatory a hit as I have seen. I wanted to see a pound of flesh. Very disappointed no Knight balled up. Lost a lot of respect for the so called "leaders" on this team. I noticed Mutter never took another shift.

Heres the deal though... it was a close game.. and they were in the midst of a real horrible streak which also saw 2 players get suspended. In the three previous games the Knights took a number of undisciplined penalties that contributed to the teams horrible play. I hear what you are saying.... but there is a time and a place. I think if you talk to the players they would have loved the chance to go after him. But I also bet Dale told them in the intermission to keep their emotions in check. I also bet if you spoke to Stranges hed say the win is more important than the retaliation.

 

[Otto]

They looked VERY disorganized for most of the game. It's become more of a habit than a trend.

Maybe.. but Hamilton looked worse. One team had to win.. London played better than the Bulldogs

 

[GobigorGohome]

Raaymakers was solid when he had to be.
Joey Keane needs to play defense and stop his useless end to end rushes hat end up with nothing to show for.
Former Knight goalie coach Bill Dark was the colour man on the Rogers broadcast last night.
Really interesting and informative guy.

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

Heres the deal though... it was a close game.. and they were in the midst of a real horrible streak which also saw 2 players get suspended. In the three previous games the Knights took a number of undisciplined penalties that contributed to the teams horrible play. I hear what you are saying.... but there is a time and a place. I think if you talk to the players they would have loved the chance to go after him. But I also bet Dale told them in the intermission to keep their emotions in check. I also bet if you spoke to Stranges hed say the win is more important than the retaliation.

Agreed there...every point is valuable. It just really shocked me that nobody even paid it any attention.

Maybe.. but Hamilton looked worse. One team had to win.. London played better than the Bulldogs

Yes Hamilton didn't play well..but one is a .500 team...the other is leading their Conference. I expect more from the latter.

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

Former Knight goalie coach Bill Dark was the colour man on the Rogers broadcast last night.
Really interesting and informative guy.

Thanks for the Saturday morning laugh. I nearly spit out my coffee

 

[GobigorGohome]

I thought it was the Piss in your cornflakes.

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

I thought it was the Piss in your cornflakes.

you called him a REALLY informative guy...perhaps you need to rethink your evaluation process

 

[Fastpace]

The Knights has to feel good today thinking their unfortunate time has finally turned and Lady Luck is finally on the good side again.

It has change when they scored a goal without even shooting the puck in the net and it was awarded to the last Knights to have touched the puck . Credited with the goal happens to be their top player on the team who's is in a race for the league top scoring title . I think last night however difficult that game was has helped the Knights turning the page and will finally make them with confidence a top contending team once again. IMHO

 

[Knights2729]

It was hopefully a bit of a boost also that Kitchener did us a favour and beat the Soo also. Hopefully it was a shot to Ottawa's confidence that Kingston beat them too. The Knights need any boost they can get with 10 games left going into the playoff stretch.

 

[Knights2729]

The Soo has a tougher Schedule then London the last 10 games, they play Saginaw 3 times, Sudbury 1 time Oshawa 1 time and London 1 time. London's is second toughest with Saginaw 2 times Guelph 2 times and Soo 1 time. Ottawa plays Oshawa 2 times and their other games SHOULD be winnable but hey, thats why they play the games right??

 

[GoKnightsGo44]

About Bill Dark, not the best colour commentator as it’s not his day job, but I appreciated his first hand accounts of working with Thomas, Kaliyev and Fulcher last year. His his history with the knights run in 2013 and his comments in general on the changing trends in goaltending around the league were insightful. I had no issues with his contribution.

 

[Otto]

Fun fact: Of the "Big 8" (London, Sault, Guelph, Saginaw, Ottawa, Niagara, Oshawa, Sudbury) only London, Ottawa and Saginaw have not lost 3 consecutive games in regulation this season. The Knights actually didn't lose back to back games in Regulation until this month.

The breakdown:

Guelph: Lost 2 in a row x2 lost 3 in a row x1
London: Lost 2 in a row x2
Saginaw: lost 2 in a row x5
Sault Ste. Marie: Lost 3 in a row x1
Niagara: Lost 2 in a row x1 lost 4 in a row x1
Ottawa: Lost 2 in a row x3
Sudbury: Lost 2 in a row x6 lost 4 in a row x1
Oshawa: lost 2 in a row x2 lost 3 in a row x1

 

[LDN]

I was very disappointed nobody went after Mutter. It should have been a 5 and a game...it was blatant intent to injure as Mutter went directly for Stranges and directly at his knee. Hoping for some revenge next Saturday

Why didnt anyone stick up for the rook?

 

[Hendy]

The Knights has to feel good today thinking their unfortunate time has finally turned and Lady Luck is finally on the good side again.

It has change when they scored a goal without even shooting the puck in the net and it was awarded to the last Knights to have touched the puck . Credited with the goal happens to be their top player on the team who's is in a race for the league top scoring title . I think last night however difficult that game was has helped the Knights turning the page and will finally make them with confidence a top contending team once again. IMHO

About that own goal...in more than 50 years of watching Major Junior hockey I've never seen that happen and then I see it twice in the span of about a month (Kitchener did it during their last visit here).

 

[zman77]

London Knights 40th win of the season with 4-2 win over Hamilton


By Mike Stubbs Reporter 980 CFPL
The 40-win season
When you play 68 games in a year, winning 40 games isn’t easy. From 1968-2000, the London Knights franchise did it just five times. With their win over Hamilton on Friday night, London made it thirteen 40-win seasons under the guidance of Mark and Dale Hunter since 2000. If you do the math, they have hit the magic 4-0 almost 70 per cent of the time during the Hunter regime. Forty-win seasons happened roughly 15 per cent of the time before it. By comparison, the next two teams on the list are the Kitchener Rangers and the Barrie Colts and they have done it eight times since 2000. Windsor and Erie are at five. Add up Sarnia, Sudbury, Kingston, North Bay, Peterborough and Mississauga and they have combined for 12.

 

[Hendy]

looks like Sundays game isn't televised they have the Nationals game listed on the guide

I fear you may be right. On the telecast they said the next televised game was this coming Tuesday against Guelph.