Jesse Nurmi scored a goal and added two assists as the London Knights defeated the Soo Greyhounds 7-3 on Valentine’s Day at Canada Life Place.
The win increased London’s lead atop the Ontario Hockey League standings to six points over the Kitchener Rangers with three games in hand.
The Rangers lost 4-2 in Kingston on Feb. 14.
The Knights came off their eight-goal performance a night earlier with their offence still rolling.
London scored five times in the opening period on Noah Tegelaar of the Soo Greyhounds, who was making his Ontario Hockey League debut after signing with Sault Ste. Marie earlier in the day.
Oliver Bonk, Jacob Julien, Landon Sim, Henry Brzustewicz and Denver Barkey all found the back of the net in the first 230 minutes of the game.
Barkey’s goal was his 20th of the year.
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Landon Miller took over in the Greyhounds net in the second period and Sault Ste. Marie hit the scoreboard at the 7:53 mark but that goal seemed to lift the level of the Knights and they struck twice more in the middle frame as Easton Cowan sent Jesse Nurmi in alone to score short-handed and then Ryder Boulton found his own rebound and scored and London led 7-1 through 40 minutes.
Jordan Charron and Martin scored less than two minutes apart early in the third period for the Greyhounds and that ended the scoring.
Montgomery and Cowan assisted on a pair of goals each.
Sam Dickinson also had two assists on the night and now has 61 points on the season.
The game was played nearly penalty-free. One minor penalty was called against Knights defenceman Liam Spencer in the second period and London killed it off.
The Knights outshot Sault Ste. Marie 38-27.
Marner vs Tkachuk on a whole new level
Former Knights linemates Mitch Marner and Matthew Tkachuk have faced each other for years now in the National Hockey League, but when they square off in a Canada vs USA Four Nations Face-off matchup things will be a little different.
It will be their first best-on-best game against one another at the professional level. Marner and Tkachuk have faced each other once before wearing international uniforms. That was on Boxing Day at the 2016 World Junior Hockey Championship and Team USA won 4-2.
Up next
The Knights will host the Flint Firebirds on Family Day at 2 p.m., at Canada Life Place.
The teams split their first two meetings of the season and then London knocked off the Firebirds 4-1 as both clubs returned from the holiday break on Dec. 29.
Aleksei Medvedev made 37 saves in that game.
Coverage will start at 1:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada app.