MacInnis scores twice as Rangers down Knights 4-2
Ryan MacInnis scored twice, Dmitrii Sergeev tallied three assists and Luke Opilka was impressive in goal as the Kitchener Rangers defeated the London Knights 4-2 in front of 9,046 fans at Budweiser Gardens on Friday night.
Opilka was particularly impressive in the final 40 minutes, as the Rangers were outshot 28-10 during that span. He improved his record to 12-2-2-0 by stopping 32 of 34 shots he faced and helped guide the Rangers (17-2-3-0) to victory.
Tyler Parsons (12-3-1-1) took the loss in goal for the Knights (14-4-1-1), allowing four goals on 21 shots.
The Rangers opened the scoring after Jeremy Bracco set up MacInnis with a nice feed at 7:10 of the first period, with Sergeev picking up the second assist. Just over three minutes later it was Adam Mascherin who gave the visitors a 2-0 lead from Mason Kohn and Darby Llewellyn at 10:18. The Rangers outshot the Knights 11-6 in the opening period of play.
Aaron Berisha opened the second period scoring, cutting the Rangers lead to 2-1 on the power play at 3:08 of the second period with Max Jones and Cliff Pu picking up the assists on the goal. With just 2:46 to play in the period Llewellyn restored the Rangers two goal lead from Gustaf Franzen and Sergeev at 17:14 to send the game to the second intermission with the Rangers up 3-1. The Knights dominated the shot clock in the middle frame, 13-5.
Chandler Yakimowicz was awarded a penalty shot at 2:29 of the third period but was stopped by Opilka. The Knights would eventually make it a 3-2 game, however, as Mitch Marner scored for the Knights at 7:04 from Christian Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk.
MacInnis tallied his 17th of the season at 10:35 while on the power play, from Bracco and Sergeev to once again restore the Rangers two goal lead, 4-2, which would finalize the game’s scoring.
Shots in the third period were 15-5, for a game total of 34-21. The Rangers and Knights were each 1-for-3 with the man advantage.
MacInnis, Brandon Robinson and Frank Hora each wore ‘A’s and skated as alternate captains for the game.
Jones (3), MacInnis (2) and Opilka (1) were chosen as the Three Stars of the game.
The Rangers finish the weekend in Guelph when they take on the Storm on Saturday, November 21st at 4pm at the Sleeman Centre.
Tickets for the Rangers game are available online at kitchenerrangers.com, by calling Centre in the Square, or through The Aud Box Office.
