Knights, Attack renew rivalry

One of last year's most intense playoff rounds will be renewed when the Owen Sound Attack visit the London Knights on Friday Night Hockey.

The defending Ontario Hockey League champions from Owen Sound defeated the Knights in a six-game thriller in last year's opening round. The Attack went on to capture their first league title and represent the OHL in the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

Owen Sound may not be the dominant group they were a year ago, but they're still a dangerous team. London assistant coach and assistant general manager Misha Donskov doesn't anticipate any let up from last year's champs.

"They still have a core group of guys that competed in that playoff series on their team," Donskov said. "We know it's going to be a war. We know it's going to be a battle. We have to make sure that we're ready to play."

Catch the Knights and Attack on Sportsnet Ontario, East, West and Pacific at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT

The Knights will have a special ceremony prior to the game as they send Rick Nash's old No. 61 to the rafters at the John Labatt Centre.

"Rick is obviously one of those franchise players and certainly is a London Knight and somebody that we're proud of," Donskov said. "We're proud to honour him on Friday. He's had a tremendous amount of success at the National Hockey League level and he's a great person."

Will the new acquisitions make an impact?

The Knights stole the headlines at the trade deadline, with the big-name acquisitions of forwards Greg McKegg from Erie and Austin Watson from Peterborough. McKegg is averaging a goal per game since joining the Knights while Watson's pace is a point per game.

"Those are two pretty special players to add to a lineup of a core group of young kids and some great leadership in our room," Donskov said. "We're looking forward to building on what we created in the first half of the season."

The Attack took a different approach at the deadline, sending defencemen Matt Petgrave and Geoffrey Schemitsch to Oshawa for a package that included defenceman Kyle Hope. The deal signals the Attack are looking more towards the future, but head coach Greg Ireland doesn't believe it takes his team out of contention against teams like London.

"We felt that with the fit and what we're trying to achieve with our D, it allowed us to kind of make our D a little bit more complete," Ireland said. "(Petgrave and Schemitsch) were great players and good guys help this team win, but for the here and now, it was a real good opportunity for us and for the long term."

How will the Attack defend against London's offence?

The Knights had a strong group of forwards even before the two big acquisitions, but are even more potent offensively now with them. London is second only to Plymouth in goals scored this season, but have three games in hand on the Whalers.

In addition to McKegg and Watson, the Knights boast solid offensive depth with Seth Griffith, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jared Knight, Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou. London's depth presents a difficult challenge for the Attack.

"I think what you have to do is develop your team game," Ireland said. "We have to be solid as a team over 200 feet. We've got to manage the puck intelligently and we have to compete for ice. If we start focusing on individuals, there's other individuals on that team that are going to step up and bite you."

Will previous meetings influence this game?

The Midwest Division rivals have met four times already this season, with the Knights winning all four. Two games were decided in overtime, while the other two contests determined by a two-goal margin.

Although the Attack haven't beaten the Knights to this point, they have plenty of confidence going into the game. In their second meeting on Nov. 19, the Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead, only to see the Attack battle back and close the deficit to one. London prevailed 7-5 on an empty net goal by Namestnikov.

"It's just the mentality of our team -- never say die," Ireland said. "The way the game is structured now with the rules -- the no red line, the bigger zones -- since the rule changes, there's no lead that's safe. If you want to test it, you have to push the pace."

"Any type of lead that we're fortunate enough to get, we can't take our foot off the pedal at all," Donskov added. "For us to be successful we have to use our speed, we've got to get pucks deep, make their defencemen turn, chase pucks down, start a cycle and when we do get our opportunities, we have to capitalize."

Can the goalies steal the show?

The Attack chose not to trade overage goalie Scott Stajcer, who's among the league leaders with a 2.41 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. Stajcer stole the show and planted incumbent Jordan Binnington on the bench for most of this season, although Ireland didn't yet name a starter for this game.

Michael Houser played in all four games between the two teams for the Knights. His numbers are nearly identical to Stajcer's, with a 2.50 GAA and a .926 save percentage.

For all the offence these teams can provide, it's entirely possible these goalies determine the outcome.

"I think the way both teams play -- it always comes down to the goalies being at their best," Ireland said. "I don't think the series has disappointed at all to this point."

Next week, Friday Night Hockey will be in our nation's capital when the Sarnia Sting visit the Ottawa 67's.