The second round of the OHL Playoffs is officially underway, and each higher seed took wins in game one.
The London Knights, Saginaw Spirit, and North Bay Battalion each skated to wins on home ice in game one of the second round.
The London Knights defeated the Kitchener Rangers by a score of 5-3 on home ice. This was a much closer game than a lot of people expected, as the Rangers kept the Knights within one goal for most of the game.
For the Knights, some more unlikely heroes stepped up to the plate. Kaleb Lawrence and Max McCue each had a goal and an assist. Lawrence was a trade deadline pickup from the Ottawa 67's who is having a great postseason with the Knights so far. He's got a lot of size, but he's also difficult for opponents to contain.
For Kitchener, Hunter Brzustewicz had a three point night from the blue line. Hunter is playing against his younger brother Henry in this series — a fun storyline for the Brzustewicz family.
Both goaltenders weren't show-stoppers, but Michael Simpson was good enough to take the win for his team.
The Saginaw Spirit had an impressive performance, by shutting out the Soo Greyhounds in a 4-0 win. Andrew Oke made a superb 39 saves in the crease, and the Spirit had four different goal scorers.
The Spirit are deep in every single position across the board, and they were able to get four different forwards to find the back of the net tonight; Calem Mangone, Matyas Sapovaliv, Hunter Haight, & Alex Christopoulos.
Though Saginaw took game one, this will not be a short series. The Soo play a very tough game and they have a lot of players that can wear their opponents down physically. Owen Allard, Jacob Frasca, and Bryce McConnell-Barker are just a few big forwards they have up front.
In the singular game in the East, the North Bay Battalion were able to defeat the Sudbury Wolves by a score of 5-2. Mike McIvor continues to step up in the crease in the absence of Winnipeg Jets prospect Dom DiVincentiis, and made 27 saves on 29 shots in this game.
Trade deadline acquisition Andrew Leblanc put up a three point performance, including two goals on the night. Draft eligible forward Ethan Procyszyn also got his first goal of the playoffs.
For the Wolves, Quentin Musty had a two point night and David Goyette added another goal.
Each of these teams play game two on Saturday, where the away teams will be looking to even up the series.