Dragons Hold Off Oxford for 4-3 Win at Lee Valley

The London Dragons made it back-to-back home wins on 7 February with a 4-3 victory over the Oxford University Blues at Lee Valley Ice Centre in Checking 1 South.

We carried the game territorially for long stretches and finished with a 64-25 advantage in shots, but Oxford stayed in it throughout and pushed the game late. Tom Jungbluth scored the game-winning goal, while Nikita Piazenko was named MVP for the Dragons. Oxford’s MVP was Eli Harris-Trent.

We started quickly and opened the scoring at 1:29. Michael D’Aprix finished from Samuel Rudenko and Maxwell Tong to put us ahead early. Oxford responded just a minute later through Andrew Godfrey at 2:29, and that was how the first period ended. We had the better of the play overall, but the score stayed level at 1-1 after one.

The second period was scrappy and penalty-filled on both sides. Oxford took the lead at 24:14 when Marty Griffin scored on the power play from Michael Furlan after Tom Jungbluth had been sent off for interference. We kept pressing and eventually found the equaliser at 35:56, with Tristan Monden scoring from Seamus Nangle and Patrick Chapman. A penalty to Michael Furlan for cross-checking came on the same sequence, and the period closed with the game tied 2-2.

We found the decisive push in the third. At 53:28, Maxwell Tong gave us a 3-2 lead, finishing from Rudenko and Rohan Kingwell. Just over two minutes later, Jungbluth added what stood as the winner at 55:54, scoring from D’Aprix to make it 4-2. Oxford did not go away, and after a too many men penalty against us at 57:15, Ollie Tipton scored on the power play at 58:13 from Furlan to cut it to 4-3. A cross-checking penalty on Shengxi Wei followed on the same play, but we saw the game out.

This was a game we largely controlled, even if the scoreline stayed tight. The shot count reflected that control. We put 64 shots on net to Oxford’s 25 and spent long stretches on the front foot, but Oxford’s goaltending and our inability to fully separate meant the game remained alive until the final minutes.

There were strong performances throughout the lineup. D’Aprix opened the scoring and added an assist on the winner. Rudenko had two assists. Tong scored the go-ahead goal in the third, and Jungbluth scored the game winner after also being involved heavily throughout the night. Piazenko was named our MVP, while Oxford’s Eli Harris-Trent took their MVP honours.

It was not a perfect performance, and the penalty count on both sides broke the game up more than we would have liked, but we found the goals we needed and got the result. Against a side that had already shown it could score against us, we did enough in the third period and closed it out.

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