Mešár records four-point night in debut, Rangers win 7-2 Friday
Kitchener, Ont. – Montréal Canadiens’ first-round draft pick Filip Mešár posted a four-point night in his first game as a Kitchener Ranger and Blueshirts’ captain Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) recorded a hat-trick to lead the East Avenue Blue to a 7-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves in front of 5,954 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Friday. It was the second consecutive victory for the Rangers, who have now scored 13 goals in the past two games.
The opening frame began with both teams trading chances, but the goaltenders stood strong. Sudbury broke the tie at 15:05 on their second power-play of the period. After a short-handed slapshot from Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) was stopped, generated off a hard forecheck by Joseph Serpa, Sudbury was able to counter down the ice. The puck was thrown to the bottom of the circle from the point to Quentin Musty who then quickly slapped a pass cross-crease for Nick DeGrazia to tap the puck in. Kitchener equalized on their second power-play of the period at the 17:38 mark. Great puck-protection by Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) on the boards allowed Mitchell Martin to slide a pass to the opposite circle to Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens) who then fed Reid Valade who was all alone in-front of the net to finish off the play.
It took only 17 minutes for Mešár to record his first point for the East Avenue Blue. The period ended with the score knotted at 1-1 and the shots favouring the Rangers 11-6.
An early power-play for Sudbury in the middle frame saw the Wolves regain the lead at 1:34. A point shot from Dylan Robinson was tipped over Marco Costantini at the hashmarks by Alex Pharand. The Rangers responded matching Sudbury for their second power-play goal of the game which tied the contest 2-2. Mešár had a slot-shot saved by the left arm of rookie goaltender Nate Krawchuk, but Pinelli collected the rebound at the bottom of the circle from a tough angle beating the outstretched glove arm of Krawchuk with a wrist shot.
Kitchener then scored another for their first lead of the night and the game’s first even-strength goal. At 6:37, Mitchell Martin carried the puck over the blueline where he dished the puck over to Pinelli who entered the zone alongside him, and fired a shot under the back crossbar, top shelf for his second of the game. The second period ended with Kitchener on top 3-2 and the shots favouring the Blueshirts 24-18.
The third period was an explosive period for the Rangers as they would add two more goals to make it four unanswered in the game. Constantini made a key breakaway save early in the third period to keep Kitchener in front 3-2.
A carry-over power-play from the second period was converted on by Mešár at 2:43 for his first goal as a Ranger. Defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz dropped the puck for Filip at the Kitchener blueline who picked up speed and carried the puck to the offensive zone where he fired a puck through the arm of the Sudbury goaltender from the faceoff dot.
Just under three minutes later at 5:38, a turnover at the Sudbury blueline was scooped up by Mešár and floated over to Pinelli, beating the Sudbury goalie with a wrist shot of his own over the blocker into the top left corner. Pinelli completed the hat-trick with the goal in the third period putting Kitchener up 5-2. Joseph Serpa added an insurance goal at the 17:04 mark with the Sudbury goalie pulled firing a puck into the empty cage. Then, Trent Swick scored in the final minute of the game cleaning up a rebound around the crease sending the fans in attendance home with the victory.
Final shots in the game ended in favour of Kitchener 41-26. Costantini made 24 saves on 26 shots. Kitchener finished the game an impressive 3-for-6 on the power-play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill. The third star of the game was Mitchell Martin with four assists, the second star was Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens) with one goal and three assists, and the first star was awarded to Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) with a hat-trick performance.
Next up: The Rangers will begin a home-and-home series with highway-seven rivals, the Guelph Storm. Kitchener will face-off in Guelph Saturday at the Sleeman Centre at 7 p.m. before hosting the Storm on Tuesday in Kitchener at The Aud, also at 7 p.m.
Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton / Kitchener Rangers
For inquiries, contact:
Dominic Hennig
Senior Director, Broadcasting, Communications & Hockey Operations
Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club
519-497-9342
[email protected]
