Final: Rangers 4, Spirit 2
Kitchener, ON: The Rangers (21-11-2-2) opened up the first of three-straight games this weekend with a win over the Saginaw Spirit (21-11-2-2), 4-2.
Greg Meireles, the game’s first star, led the way with two goals while Jacob Ingham stopped 33 and earned third star honours.
Graham Dickerson scored his first of the season and Jonathan Yantsis added his 24th of the season in the win.
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The first period saw a number of chances for both teams, including breakaways for either side. However, Jacob Ingham and Marshall Frappier remained perfect saving 14 and 9 shots respectively to keep the game scoreless after 20 minutes of play.
Kitchener broke the deadlock at 7:33 of the second period when a pass from Arber Xhekaj across the blueline to Graham Dickerson (1) led to the left-winger getting a partial break to the net before wristing it past Frappier to make it 1-0.
Saginaw evened up the score at 14:07 when an outside shot by Ilya Solovyov was tipped by Josh Bloom (3) past the outstretched skate of Ingham to make it 1-1.
Shortly after, at 15:48, a quick cross-crease pass by Cole Perfetti was finished by Damien Giroux (23) to give the Spirit the lead, 2-1.
As the period wound down, the Rangers were on a powerplay after DK King took a four-minute high-sticking penalty. With 13-seconds remaining, Greg Meireles (15) threaded the needle on a shot from the side of Frappier’s net to tie the game, 2-2.
Axel Bergkvist and
Shots after 40 minutes were 27-20 in favour of the Spirit.
At 1:51, a pass up the ice by Ingham to Jonathan Yantsis led to an incredible solo effort by the Rangers leading goalscorer to net his 24th of the season and make it 3-2.
Meireles (16) would add another at 14:59 after a slight hesitation on a wrist shot that fooled Frappier just enough to fire it past the Spirit netminder. It was 4-2.
The final shots on goal were 35-31 for the Spirit.
The next Rangers home game is on Friday, January 10 versus the Niagara IceDogs at 7:30 pm. The next road game for the Rangers is on Saturday, January 4 at 7:00 pm versus the Niagara IceDogs.
Tickets are available for all regular-season home games! Purchase yours in-person at The Aud or Centre in the Square Box Office, by phone (519) 578-1570 or 1-800-265-8977, or online.
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