Game Recap: Kitchener dominates Flint on the Road
Flint, MI – Both Kitchener’s offense and penalty kill shined in their second game of the season. The Rangers won 8-0 over Flint to start their season with back-to-back wins. Matthew Andonovski, Kyle Morey and Mitchell Martin all scored their second goals of the season, while Hunter Brzustewicz recorded four assists and Adrian Misaljevic recorded two goals and two assists in the contest. Jackson Parsons had a perfect game with a 28-save shutout.
Luke Ellinas took a four-minute double minor for high sticking 2:28 into the game. Parsons shut down Flint’s powerplay all four minutes and Kitchener looked to attack as Ellinas was sent on a breakaway directly out of the box. Flint netminder and Edmonton Oilers 2023 draft pick, Nathan Day denied him to keep it even.
Both teams were assessed one other minor penalty throughout the period, however, neither team capitalized. Cameron Mercer was launched onto a short-handed breakaway with just over two minutes remaining but missed the net wide. The score after 20 minutes of play was tied at zero, the shots were 8-3 Flint.
A minute and fifteen seconds into the second period Martin and Blake Smith went to the box to make it four-on-four. Immediately off the draw, Matheas Stark scored his first career OHL goal. Stark buried a rebound off Ellinas’ shot at 1:21 into the second frame. Kitchener continued to press four on four as Morey and Misaljevic both had good chances before Carson Rehkopf finally sniped the Rangers’ second goal. This was Rehkopf’s first goal of the regular season; he led the OHL in preseason scoring 11 points in just four games. Assists went to Brzustewicz and Misaljevic.
The second period continued to be dominated by Kitchener as both Andonovski and Morey each scored their second goal of the season. Andonovski scored from the point with 3:39 left in the period. Misaljevic and Brzustewicz each recorded their second point of the night on this goal with assists. Kitchener’s fourth goal came from Morey off a lost draw where Antonino Pugliese stole the puck and passed it to him to bury it. Pugliese now has three points (1G, 2A) in the opening weekend of OHL hockey. Mercer was awarded his second assist of the season.
At the end of the second period, the shots on goal were 26-14 in favor of the Rangers, as they recorded 23 shots in the frame. Kitchener went into the third period up 4-0 over Flint.
Martin scored a backdoor goal early in the third off a pass from Brzustewicz. This was Brzustewicz’s third assist of the night and Martins’s second goal in as many nights as he scored Kitchener’s first goal of the season last night. The goal was scored 46 seconds into the third and put Kitchener up 5-0.
Misaljevic put up his third point of the night as he scored an empty net goal to put Kitchener up 6-0 with 5:40 to go. Shortly after, Trent Swick scored his first goal of the season on a powerplay breakaway. Brzustewicz recorded his fourth assist on the play. The Blueshirts did not finish there as they went on a 32-second five-on-three powerplay, that capitalized just after the first penalty expired. Matthew Sop faked a shot and passed the puck over to Misaljevic for his second goal of the period with 2:23 left in the game. This goal made it 8-0 Rangers, that would make the final score. The final shots were 31-28 in favor of Kitchener.
It was a chippy game with 80 penalty minutes for Flint and 46 for Kitchener; 94 combined penalty minutes were given out in the third period alone.
Parsons stopped all 28 shots he faced winning his second game of the weekend as he picked up his first career shutout. Day made 23 of 31 saves required of him. The Rangers powerplay went 2/3 and their penalty kill went 7/7.
Up Next: Kitchener heads to Sarnia on Wednesday, October 4th before coming back to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Friday, October 6th vs. Owen Sound. Tickets can be found at the box office sponsored by White Way Plumbing or online here.
