FINAL: Rangers 5, Spirit 2
The Kitchener Rangers welcomed the Saginaw Spirit to The Aud for a Friday night matchup. This was the first game back at 100% capacity since restrictions were lifted. We were looking to get back in the win column and climb back into a playoff spot.
Five minutes into the game, Saginaw scored on a point shot, giving them the early 1-0 lead. After some pressure from the Rangers, Justin Nolet went end to end, dangling through multiple Saginaw defenders to tie the game at 1-1. The Rangers killed off a penalty midway through the period, giving them momentum. Late in the period, Reid Valade finished off a beautiful passing play on the powerplay, giving us the 2-1 lead.
Three minutes into the 2nd period, Matthew Sop was left all alone in front of Saginaw’s Tristian Lennox and made a nice move to slide the puck past the netminder, making it 3-1 Rangers. Just after, Mike Petizian had a flurry of chances, capitalizing on his last one, extending the lead to 4-1. Both teams had their fair share of chances throughout the period, but neither could take advantage. Pavel Cajan made a big cross-crease save late to keep the game 4-1. The Rangers took the lead into the 3rd.
Cajan continued his stellar play, making a handful of big saves in the first five minutes of the period. With 11 minutes remaining, Navrin Mutter took a five-minute penalty for kneeing and got a game misconduct. The Rangers penalty killers came up big, killing off the entire penalty. Andrew LeBlanc would add an empty-net goal for the Rangers, making it 5-1. Saginaw would add a late goal to make it 5-2.
The Rangers took this contest by a final score of 5-2. Pavel Cajan had a great night, stopping 36 of 38 shots.
Our next game is Sunday, March 6th, at 2:05 p.m. in Sarnia.
