Hounds drop opening game to Knights

The Soo Greyhounds held the vaunted London Knights offense at bay for two-and-a-half periods before the Knights battled back to defeat the Greyhounds 3-1.

Solid goaltending performances from Kyle Gajewski of the Greyhounds and Steve Mason of the Knights kept the game close all night. Gajewski finished the night with 35 saves while Mason stopped 30 in the win.

Sam Gagner scored a pair of third period goals to give the Knights a 2-1 lead before Sergei Kostitsyn sealed the win with an empty net goal with 10 seconds remaining in the game. Gagner’s first goal came after he finished serving a hooking penalty. The Knights rookie came out of the penalty box and took a feed from David Meckler and broke in on Gajewski. The winning goal came four minutes later from Gagner as well.

Gajewski was pulled after a Greyhounds timeout with 46 seconds left but Kostitsyn sealed the win into an empty net on the power play.

Dustin Jeffrey scored the lone Greyhounds goal at 15:19 of the opening period.

Gagner finished the night with a pair of goals and an assist while Matt Clarke added a pair of assists.

Game two in the series goes Friday night in London. Game time is 7:30. Games three and four in Sault Ste. Marie are set for Monday and Tuesday in 7 p.m. starts.