London Knights forward Jacob Julien recorded four points as the London Knights toppled the Kitchener Rangers 6-2 in Game 2 of the 2025 OHL Western Conference Championship series.
Julien was also 12-for-17 in the faceoff circle, a plus-2 on the day and the game’s first star.
The victory gives London a 2-0 series lead and a 10-0 record so far in the 2025 OHL playoffs, which equals their record from 2024.
Down captain Denver Barkey and forward Evan Van Gorp due to injury, the Knights scored two goals in the opening period and allowed just two shots on their net.
Jesse Nurmi opened the scoring at 4:11 of the first period as he grabbed a puck that was poked off a London stick in the slot and ripped a shot off the post and in for his first goal of the playoffs.
Cam Allen’s third goal of the post-season came seconds after Kitchener had finished killing off a penalty to make it 2-0 Knights. Allen stepped across the blue line and snapped a shot over the blocker of Ranger goaltender Jackson Parsons.
Kitchener came out with two goals inside the first 6:08 of the second period to tie the game 2-2. Trent Swick scored after taking a pass at the edge of the Knights crease, and Luca Romani tallied his third goal of the series on a power play.
Undeterred London came back with two more goals of their own in a span of 1:37. Both came off deflections in front. First, Oliver Bonk shot from the top of the right circle and hit a body to put the Knights in front 3-2 at 15:49.
Jared Woolley got the puck in roughly the same spot just over a minute and a half later and wristed it at the Ranger goal where Julien got a stick on it and redirected it into the net and London took a 4-2 lead into the third period.
Woolley and Henry Brzustewicz each had two assists.
Montgomery had a goal and an assist.
The Knights added to it on two nice plays from Julien.
He whipped a puck off the end boards and won the race to it.
Instead of shooting, Julien slid a gorgeous feed across the edge of the crease and Blake Montgomery tapped it in for his second goal in two games and a 5-2 London edge.
Julien completed the scoring on a Knights power play as he pivoted to the net from beside the right post and slid a low shot inside the left post to finish the scoring.
London outshot the Rangers 41-25.
Both teams were 1-for-4 on the power play.
Points in every game
Sam O’Reilly and Easton Cowan have at least one point in every playoff game they have played in 2025.
O’Reilly has five goals and 12 assists in 10 games and Cowan has eight goals and 14 assists for a team-leading 24 points in the post-season.
The only player with a longer active point streak in this year’s post-season is Anthony Romani of the Barrie Colts who entered Sunday’s action with at least one point in 13 consecutive games.
Cowan is no stranger to streaks. He went 42 straight games with a point in 2023-24 and then began this year by adding to that stretch in regular season games. Cowan recorded a point in 65 regular season games in total.
Up next
Game 3 between London and Kitchener will take place on Monday, April 28 at 7 p.m., at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL at 980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.