Big 2nd period leads Brantford Bulldogs past London Knights to 4-1 victory

The Brantford Bulldogs scored all four of their goals in the second period in a 4-1 victory over the London Knights on Jan. 9.

Adam Jiricek scored once and added an assist in the Bulldogs win as the Knights played the first of two games in less than 24 hours at Canada Life Place.

London and Brantford skated end-to-end through a fast-paced, yet scoreless first period.

Marek Vanacker from Delhi, Ont., got the first goal of the game as he slammed in a pass from the right side of the London end for his 29th goal of the season at 3:14 of the second period to make it 1-0 Brantford.

Jiricek of the Bulldogs showed why he was named best defenceman at the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship as, in the span of 41 seconds, the St. Louis Blue first round pick set up Parker Holmes and then scored a goal himself to push the Brantford lead to 3-0.

Before the end of the second period, former Guelph Storm forward Charlie Paquette fed the OHL’s Rookie scoring leader in Caleb Malhotra and Malhotra’s 19th goal of the season had the Bulldogs ahead 4-0 through 40 minutes.

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Jesse Nurmi snapped in his second goal in two games on a London power play at 6:13 of the third period.

London outshot Brantford 29-28.

The Knights were 0-for-2 on the man advantage but held the top power play in the OHL to an 0-for-2 as well.

Patrick Kane becomes 50th player to hit 500 career goals

The Detroit Red Wings must have known it was coming, because they had Patrick Kane mic’d up as he wristed his 500th career goal into an empty net to seal a Wings win over the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 8 at Little Caesars Arena.

Kane completed the feat in 1,332 games.

Kane played for the Knights in 2006-07 and led the OHL in scoring with 145 points in 58 games. He would go on to be selected first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL Entry Draft and would help Chicago to win the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Up next

London will host the Erie Otters at 4 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 9 at Canada Life Place.

The Knights and Otters have met twice this year very early on their schedules.

Erie won the first of those games in overtime.

London won the second meeting 6-1.

Coverage will begin at 3:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.

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