Seth Griffith unleashed the tidal wave of light and fluffy in the first period.

The London Knights sniper scored his team's Teddy Bear Toss goal, triggering an OHL record cascade of 10,671 stuffed animals in support of the Salvation Army.

Then, he capped his evening by sticking a blunt dagger into the heart of the Owen Sound Attack, tipping home a Tommy Hughes point blast with four seconds left in the third period for a 3-2 winner, the Knights' franchise-best 19th straight victory, before 9,046 Friday night at Budweiser Gardens.

Griffith's shocking tally came 20 seconds after Attack forward Daniel Catenacci, who high-sticked him earlier in the game, tied it in dramatic fashion, making sudden death look inevitable.

“You never want to give up on the play,” Griffith said, “but (overtime) is going through your head. You think, 'Hopefully, we can just get one here.' It doesn't happen like that all the time like that, usually, you go to overtime, but it was a nice shot by (Hughes) and I was lucky enough to get my stick on it.”

Griffith said Hughes told him he was trying to go wide of the net.

“I was just trying not to get it blocked,” the big defender said with a grin. “I was hoping for any sort of bounce and definitely, it was the best one I could hope for when it hit Seth's stick.”

So this improbable streak, the third-longest in OHL history, marches on minus four of the team's top defencemen.

“It was definitely a lot different without (Scott Harrington), Olli (Maatta) and Nikky (Zadorov), but (Kyle) Platzer, Brett Welychka and (Miles Liberati) really stepped up there,” Griffith said. “Just winning this game overall was memorable enough. Looking back at the '04-05 Knights team (who won 18 straight as part of their 31-game unbeaten streak, it's tough to do, win that many games in a row.

“It didn't matter how it happened.”

The Knights have now beaten the rival Attack in nine straight meetings – three of them this season and all of this year's wins by London goalie Jake Patterson, a star stopper again.

London was handed the man advantage 11 seconds into the game and promptly allowed rocket-legged Catenacci, fresh from Calgary after his release from the Canadian world junior team, to break in all alone.

Patterson robbed him.

It set the tone.

“We got outstanding goaltending from Patty,” said Hughes, the 20-year-old rearguard who spent half the game on the ice. “You look at Matt (Fuller) coming up (the past two from the junior B Nationals after being claimed on waivers from Sault Ste. Marie) and he had a few shifts where he stopped a couple of goals from going in.

“We needed guys to step up and they did.”

If someone were to award the purple heart of bruises, it would be Fuller stepping in front of a Holden Cook blast with Patterson out of position.

This isn't the Knights' normal D, but they worked head coach Dale Hunter's dream plan.

They scored first after a rash of Attack penalties, finally breaking through on Griffith's squeaker on their third power play.

“It's fun to get the Teddy Bear goal, we always joke about who's going to get it,” he said, “but you don't go out there and no one's playing selfish. You just play your game. I was just the lucky one to get it.”

That was the only heart-felt, pillowy-soft moment.

The rest of the time, the Knights and Attack spent trying to knock the stuffing out of each other.

Max Domi was booted out of the game for a second-period cross-checking major that drew blood from Owen Sound rookie Jaden Lindo.

The OHL is expected to look at the video, but unlikely to tack on any discipline. Domi doesn't have a history of dirty play.

The first two periods, the Knights and Attack engaged in a constant parade to the penalty box and the contest was highlighted by nasty scrums, high sticks and over-heated tempers.

“We want to show the rest of the league we can still win even with the guys we're missing,” forward Chris Tierney said. “It's not our normal D, but nothing's going to change the rest of the weekend.”

They're still putting up unlikely W's – 19 straight now with Guelph up next on Saturday afternoon.

ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca

Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress

GAME GLANCE

Knights 3, Attack 2

London goals: Seth Griffith (2), Bo Horvat

Owen Sound goals: Holden Cook, Daniel Catenacci

Next: The Knights are in Guelph Saturday at 2 p.m., then back home to face Kingston at 2 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.