Rangers win fourth-straight, five-of-last-six games
Kitchener, Ont. – The Kitchener Rangers earned their fourth-straight victory and fifth win in their last six games after posting a 5-1 triumph over the Niagara IceDogs in front of 5,980 fans at The Aud Thursday. With the win, Kitchener has earned 10 out of the last possible 12 points and climbed three positions in the OHL standings in just five days.
Carson Rehkopf extended his point-streak to six games with an insurance goal, Captain Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) recorded a three-point night, Filip Mešár scored two goals and Marco Costantini made 41 stops in his return to the Rangers’ goal en-route to the Ranger victory.
It took all of 43 seconds for Kitchener to break the ice and get the scoring started tonight. Hunter Brzustewicz found Reid Valade circling from the bottom of the circle to the high slot where Valade ripped a shot over the blocker arm of Josh Rosenzweig, hitting the back cross bar and in to give Kitchener an early 1-0 advantage.
Then, Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) scored his 18th goal of the season at 15:24 of the first period. It was another assist from the point for Brzustewicz who found Pinelli in the slot. Pinelli wristed a shot past the glove of the Niagara goaltender through a Matthew Sop screen in front.
Costantini made his best save of the night in tight keeping Niagara off the scoreboard with under three minutes to play in the first period. Through 20 minutes, Kitchener doubled Niagara in goals but Niagara doubled up the Rangers on the shot clock 18-9.
Niagara responded through an Aidan Castle breakaway at the 13:30 mark of the second period. Castle shielded off a Ranger defender pulling the puck to his left and chipping it over the glove arm of Costantini. The Rangers kept pressing and came close on a couple chances, but the score remained 2-1 Kitchener through 40 minutes. Shots favoured the IceDogs 36-19.
Kitchener buckled down in the final period and put the game out of reach with three unanswered goals. On a nice effort behind the Niagara net, Matthew Sop found Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens) in the slot to one-time a shot into the bottom right corner at 8:01. Then at 10:39, Carson Rehkopf wristed a shot from the left face-off circle, short-side, extending the lead to 4-1 and extending his point streak to six games.
Then in similar fashion, Filip Mešár got open in the slot for a quick shot into the net far-side, this time, passed to him by Francesco Pinelli from the bottom right corner to put the game away and give Kitchener a 5-1 victory.
Final shots ended in favour of the IceDogs 43-33. Kitchener ended the game 0-for-1 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty-kill. Francesco Pinelli was the game’s third star with a goal and two assists, Filip Mešár was the second star of the game with two goals and Marco Costantini was awarded the game’s first start with a stellar performance making 41 stops on 42 shot in his return.
Next Up: Kitchener returns to action next Friday night at The Aud as the Blueshirts get set to take on the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. Great seats are still available and can be purchased here.
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]
