Series Preview: Kitchener & London begin second round Thursday
Kitchener, Ont. – After making history as the first-ever eighth seed to sweep a first seed in the OHL Playoffs, the Kitchener Rangers will turn their attention to the second round and the London Knights, arguably one the top rivalries in all of hockey. The best-of-seven series begins in London this Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. before moving to Kitchener this Sunday at 2 p.m. and Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Coverage Links:
- Tickets: Buy Online | (519) 578-1570
- TV: Rogers TV, cable 20 (Kitchener)
- TV: Rogers TV, cable 13 (London)
- TV: Super Sports Pack, cable 463 (Ontario)
- Video Stream: OHLLive.com | CHL App
- Radio: CityNews 570 AM CKGL
- Live Stats
- Live Tweets
- Rangers Vision Videos
Kitchener Rangers Playoff Tickets:
The Rangers will host Games 3 & 4 this Sunday at 2 p.m. and Tuesday at 7 p.m. Rangers’ playoff tickets are available now and on sale online here. Fans can also call either (519) 578-1570 or (800) 265-8977 or can purchase tickets in person at the Activa Box Office at The Aud (400 East Ave. Kitchener, ON N2H 1Z6) or at Centre In The Square (101 Queen St. N. Kitchener, ON N2H 6P7).
Head-to-Head:
The Rangers enter the series as the Western Conference’s eighth seed and will now take-on the London Knights who finished the season as the second-seed in the Western Conference. However, since the OHL Trade Deadline on Jan. 10, the Rangers racked-up the second-most points in the OHL (40). Additionally, the Kitchener’s record after making a coaching change on Feb. 10 is 16-5-4-0, and have won four-straight games. London is coming off a series sweep of the Owen Sound Attack as well.
Last season, the Rangers, as a seventh-seed, upset the second-seed London Knights in the first round by earning an overtime road victory in game seven to complete the 4-3 series victory. (Watch Highlights)
In the past five seasons, Kitchener holds a 10-23-1-0 record overall over London. The Rangers are 4-12-1-0 on home-ice at The Aud and are 6-11-0-0 on the road at the Budweiser Gardens. Kitchener finished this year with a 1-4-1-0 record against London and were 1-2-0-0 at the Budweiser Gardens.
The top-two goaltenders in the OHL Playoffs will go head-to-head this series. Kitchener’s Marco Costantini leads the OHL Playoffs in save percentage (.949), followed by London’s Brett Brochu (.946). Brochu leads in goals against average (1.34) and Costantini is second at 1.75.
Kitchener will be without their captain, Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings), for the first two games of the series. Pinelli is serving the final two games of his three-game suspension for a blind side hit in game three of the opening series against Windsor. Pinelli had five points (2G 3A) in the two-games he played before his suspension.
Scouting the Rangers:
In Kitchener’s opening round of the playoffs, Reid Valade leads the Rangers with four goals. Valade was also tied with Francesco Pinelli and Carson Rehkopf for the second-most points on the team with five. Mitchell Martin led the Rangers in points with six. Martin had a team leading four assists and two goals in four games.
Kitchener is arguably one of the most talented eight seeds to enter the OHL Playoffs in recent memory and have now taken out the first-seed Windsor Spitfires in four consecutive games, the first time an eight seed has ever swept a one seed in the OHL Playoffs. The Rangers have six NHL players on their roster that are both drafted and signed already by their respective NHL clubs.
The Rangers are led up front by two 90-point scorers in Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) and Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings). Arcuri finished the OHL Regular Season just two goals shy of becoming a 50-goal scorer, a special feat in the OHL. He finished with the 10th-most points in the league with 91 points (48G, 43A) in 71 games. Pinelli finished with the 12th-most points with 90 points (41G, 49A) in 60 games played.
On defence, Michigan-native Hunter Brzustewicz finished with the eighth-most points among all defencemen in his first campaign in the OHL. Brzustewicz, who is a top prospect eligible for the upcoming 2023 NHL Draft, racked up 57 points (6G, 51A) in 68 games this year.
In net, the Rangers boast the defending OHL Playoffs Champion with veteran CHL Memorial Cup experience in Marco Costantini. Costanini currently leads the OHL Playoffs in save percentage (.949) and is second in goals against average (1.75). Costantini has earned four-straight wins for the Rangers. He was the starting goaltender for the Hamilton Bulldogs last season, earning four-straight best-of-seven series victories in the playoffs. Costantini was in net when Hamilton topped Windsor in the OHL Championship last season before going on to play in all five Memorial Cup games for Hamilton, including the championship game. Costantini won his fifth consecutive playoff series with the 4-0 win with Kitchener over Windsor. In his playoff career, Costantini has a dazzling 20-2-1-0 record with a 0.921 save percentage and 2.20 GAA.
As a team, Kitchener were 3-for-10 on the power-play and 15-for-16 on the penalty kill. That ranked them fourth overall on the power-play and the best ranked penalty kill through the opening round. On top of that, Kitchener added four short-handed goals in the series.
Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars), Tomáš Hamara (Ottawa Senators), Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens), Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings), Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Danny Zhilkin (Winnipeg Jets) are six Kitchener skaters that are both drafted, and signed, by their NHL clubs respectively.
Scouting the Knights:
Sean McGurn finished as the Knights leading point-getter during the regular season, recording 83 points (27G, 56A) in 67 games this year.
On the blue line, Logan Mailloux (Montréal Canadiens) led the Knights with 53 points (25G 28A) in 59 games. Mailloux also tallied the ninth most points by a defenceman in the league and had the most goals with 25. Rookie Oliver Bonk had a breakout season on the blueline recording the eighth most points by all rookie skaters and the second most by a defenceman with 40 points (10G 30A) in 67 games.
Between-the-pipes, London features overage goaltender Brett Brochu. Brochu has played in 143 games over three seasons for the Knights including the postseason. Brochu has a 96-36-5-0 record with a .911 save percentage and 2.58 GAA. This season, Brochu had the fourth best save percentage (.902) and fourth best GAA (2.82). He went 28-17-2-0 in 47 games. In the postseason, Brochu has a 7-3-1-0 record with a .912 save percentage and 2.48 GAA. All four of his playoff losses came against the Kitchener Rangers last season.
Jackson Edward (Boston Bruins), Isaiah George (New York Islanders), Logan Mailloux (Montreal Canadiens), Max McCue (San Jose Sharks), Landon Sim (St. Louis Blues), and Ryan Winterton (Seattle Kraken) are the six London skaters that are drafted by their NHL clubs respectively.
Broadcast Coverage:
All Rangers playoff games will be televised live throughout Kitchener and the Waterloo Region on Rogers TV, cable channel 20. In addition, the games can be watched across the province of Ontario on the Super Sports Pack, with Thursday’s game slated for channel 463 for cable subscribers.
The games will be streamed live online in a web browser at OHLLive.com, and on the CHL App for mobile devices including smart TV’s such as Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire.
Additionally, fans can listen to Rangers games on the radio on CityNews 570 AM CKGL. Mike Farwell (play-by-play) and Chris Pope (colour commentary) will call the game on the radio. Fans can tune in to the radio pregame show 30 minutes prior to puck drop. For more information on Kitchener Rangers broadcast coverage, click here.
Next Up:
After Thursday night’s game, the Rangers continue their best-of-seven series against the Knights Friday in London. The Rangers will return home for game three this Sunday at 2 p.m. and game four this Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online here.
Photo Credit: Tiffany Luke / Kitchener Rangers
For inquiries, contact:
Dominic Hennig
Senior Director, Broadcasting, Communications & Hockey Operations
Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club
519-497-9342
[email protected]
