The Soo Greyhounds have had their share of lows lately and London Knights were more than willing to hand the team a few more lumps.
The Knights scored early and often to defeat the Greyhounds 7-1 in Ontario Hockey League action in front of a sellout crowd of 9,100 fans at the John Labatt Centre in London.
The consolation for the Greyhounds is that the Windsor Spitfires suffered a loss on Friday and the team will now have a chance to return home to rest and regroup.
The Greyhounds do not return to action until Wednesday when they travel to Saginaw to battle the Spirit.
Defenseman Dennis Wideman scored his 21st goal of the season on the power play just 1:06 into the game to get the Knights rolling. Rob Schremp added another goal midway through the period to give London a 2-0 lead after one period.
Rick Steadman scored 47 second into the second period, Dylan Hunter scored at 4:31 and Wideman's second of the night on the power play at 9:15 put the Knights ahead 5-0.
Scott Dobben put the Hounds on the board with a short handed effort from Jeff Carter for his 30th goal of the season.
Danny Syvret scored on the power play late in the second period to put the Knights ahead 6-1. Schremp scored his second of the game on the power in the third period to cap the scoring.
Corey Perry recorded three assists while Danny Richmond, Scott Sheppard and Hunter all added two helpers each.
Kevin Druce made the start in goal for the Greyhounds and stopped 39 of 46 shots while London counterpart Gerald Coleman stopped 33 of 34 Soo shots.
The loss was the Greyhounds third in a row and drops their season record to 28-33-3-1 for 60 points. Windsor remains one point back with a game in hand for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Spitfires fell 5-2 to the Guelph Storm on Friday as Matt Ryan scored twice and setup another for Guelph. Echo Bay product Niko Tuomi recorded two assists for the Storm.
Of note, Windsor forward Steve Downie made his return to the Windsor lineup after being knocked unconscious by a Jeff Doyle hit last Friday night. Doyle, a Greyhound overage forward, received a 15-game suspension for the incident.
After their contest in Saginaw, the Greyhounds return home for a pair of games to conclude the regular season against Saginaw on Friday, March 12 and London on Sunday, March 14.
*** OHL LIVE ON THE NET:
Friday's contest between the Ottawa 67's and Belleville Bulls marked the first ever live Internet broadcast of an OHL game.
The pilot project for the league, will see the remaining home games of the 67's broadcast live. Fans can check out the broadcasts by visiting Ottawa's web site at www.ottawa67s.com.