With Cowan's three-point performance in Wednesday’s victory over the Saginaw Spirit, he brought his tournament total to five through three games.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan and the London Knights are heading to the Memorial Cup Final after a 4-2 victory over the Saginaw Spirit on Wednesday – improving to a perfect 3-0-0-0 record in the round-robin.
In a back-and-forth affair, Cowan delivered in the clutch – scoring the game-winning goal with 1:25 remaining in the final frame.
Sam O’Reilly fed Cowan with a backhanded pass, leaving him alone one-on-one with Spirit goaltender Andrew Oke. The right-winger would make no mistake, sliding a quick wrister under the glove of Oke, giving the Knights the late lead before scoring his second of the game – an empty netter that iced the game with just 0:22 remaining on the clock.
Trailing 1-0 in the opening frame, a double minor was assessed to Spirit defenseman Zayne Parekh for high sticking, awarding the Knights with a four-minute powerplay – and they took advantage of the opportunity.
Cowan, similarly to his first assist against Moose Jaw on Monday, anchored the powerplay carrying the puck through the neutral zone before feeding linemate Kasper Halttunen for his third of the tournament – burying a slick toe-drag release, scoring just 0:39 seconds into the man advantage and tying the game 1-1.
After trading goals in the second period, as Denver Barkey and London scored their second unanswered goal, followed by the Spirit’s Joey Willis knotting the game at 2-2 with a rooftop finish 3:40 later, the Knights would take control in the dying minutes of the final frame on the back of Cowan’s two-goal third period performance – winning by a score of 4-2.
Through the completion of round-robin action, Cowan has produced at a better-than-point-per-game pace, tallying five points (two goals, three assists) in three games. Selected by the Leafs 28th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, the first-round pick has led the Knights back to the Memorial Cup Final for the first time since 2016. With a Memorial Cup championship in 2005 and 2016, London is in search of its third in 2024.
The Memorial Cup Final will be played on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, where Cowan and the Knights await the winner of the Moose Jaw Warriors and Saginaw Spirit semi-final on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
