PHOTO COURTESY VINCENT ETHIER/CHL
London Knights forward Sam O'Reilly tips a puck past Moncton Wildcats net minder Mathis Rousseau to win the second game of the 2025 Memorial Cup, 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.
The London Knights called game Saturday night the same way they kicked off their 2025 Memorial Cup debut.
Edmonton Oilers prospect Sam O’Reilly tipped in a pass from Easton Cowan during three-on-three overtime as the Knights beat the Moncton Wildcats 3-2 Saturday night at Rimouski’s Sun Life Coliseum.
“I thought we were alright,” O’Reilly said. “I thought we could have been better, sharper, but it’s been a little bit since we played and (we) came out on the right side.”
The Knights saw the Wildcats equal two leads, before eventually pulling the game out in overtime.
“They’re a good team, and we fired a lot of pucks, but ended up to two game until we scored an overtime,” head coach Dale Hunter said.
The Knights outshot Moncton 48-29. Wildcats head coach Gardiner MacDougall says the loss is a confidence booster for his group.
“We’re a team that’s been growing throughout the season, getting better, found ways through the Q playoffs to get better, and this game tonight, will make us better,” MacDougall said. “We had a great opponent, it’s a heavyweight fight, both teams had some big shots and both teams defended those big shots. We had a couple of big chances in overtime and unfortunately, we gave up one too many and you get the result you did.”
MacDougall, who won the Memorial Cup in 2022 with the St. John’s Ice Dogs, says the game reminded him of their 4-3 overtime loss against the Edmonton Oil Kings that year.
“It was different rules at that time because you worked hard and you got a point, the other team got two. But here we have to find a way to get the points next time we’re out.”
Teams get two points for an overtime win, no points for an overtime loss.
London opened the scoring Saturday just 1:31 into the game.
Sam O’Reilly tipped in a shot from Sam Dickinson, getting the Knights on the board early in their first game of the Memorial Cup. Blake Montgomery had the second assist.
Moncton responded 5:28 later with what appeared to be a redirection goal of their own.
An Etienne Morin point shot changed direction in front of the net before beating Austin Elliott to tie the game up at 1-1. Alex Mercier and Dylan MacKinnon had the assists.
The Wildcats held a 15-14 shot advantage through 20 minutes, both teams had looks on a power play in the opening frame but were each held to the lone goal.
That didn’t dissuade the Knights, they capitalized on a man advantage early in the second.
After NHL Draft prospect Caleb Desnoyers was called for a trip, London struck twine with a one-time blast from Kasper Halttunen for the 2-1 lead at 5:11. Cowan and Denver Barkey had the helpers.
Moncton tied the game up later in the frame, sticking on a power play of their own.
In the latter stages of a Henry Brzustewicz hooking minor, Dyllan Gill unleashed a blast from the point and the Moncton product found twine to make it 2-2 at 12:22. Mercier and Natan Grenier had the assists. Goaltender Mathis Rousseau sent the puck up ice to set up the play that led to the goal.
The Moncton net minder had to show excellence as the period expired with London putting on a push in the last five minutes of the period. He held strong, stopping 14 shots in the period as the Knights led Moncton 29-23 in shots through 40 minutes.
Neither team scored in the third period, with London outshooting the Wildcats 16-3 in the frame to set up the three-on-three overtime.
Moncton got away with a too many men penalty to start the three-on-three overtime, seeing the fourth skater jump back on the bench quick enough to skirt the penalty.
London capitalized a few minutes later on a two-on-three rush.
Cowan carried the puck up ice, stopping inside the blue line before a spin-move saw him cut to the net and send a cross-ice pass to O’Reilly who one-touched the puck past Rousseau who swatted at it but couldn’t get the last tough. Oliver Bonk had the second assist.
Rousseau finished with 45 saves, across the ice from him, Elliott made 27 saves.
The Knights are back in action Sunday, taking on the host Rimouski Océanic who look for their first win of the tournament after falling 5-4 to the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday. That game gets underway at 4 p.m. MST.
“There’s four good teams in here, we’re going to have another tough team tomorrow and we have to play our game and bounce back,” Hunter said.
The Wildcats are off until Monday when they’ll face the Tigers. MacDougall says the off day gives them the schedule they’ve played in throughout the QMJHL playoffs and he says they look forward to facing another tough team.
“It’s a great showcase for CHL hockey, we had two top teams tonight, you had two top teams last night and now London will get to play Rimouski and then we get to play Medicine Hat,” MacDougall said. “So it’s great for the hockey fans, great for you people as media, great for the people that watch on TV and all the NHL scouts here. It’s outstanding, we’ll have a great plan and a good opponent and we look forward to getting another opportunity to get better.”
Editors note: An earlier version of the story had the incorrect format for overtime points.
