Rangers comeback bid falls just short against Knights
Ryan MacInnis and Jeremy Bracco each had three point nights, but it wasn’t quite enough to help the Kitchener Rangers register two points in the standings as they fell 5-4 to their division rivals, the London Knights, in front of 7,135 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex on Tuesday night.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying, however, as the Rangers captain, MacInnis, registered 13 shots on goal himself. Tyler Parsons (22-4-2-1) would stop all but four of the 40 shots he faced from the hosts to earn the win in goal.
MacInnis (11-19=30) and Bracco (6-9=15) would both manage to extend their personal point streaks to 18 and eight games, respectively, but would gladly sacrifice those streaks for two points in the standings.
“We had some good energy out there, especially in the third period when we were looking to tie it up, but we just couldn’t manage to battle back all the way,” said the Rangers captain.
Rangers head coach Mike Van Ryn said the game had its up’s and down’s, but that’s an expected element of junior hockey on any given night.
“We didn’t get off to the start we wanted, we made a few mental mistakes, but we did show some resiliency,” said the skipper. “We were down, we battled back. Then we were down again, and we battled back. The effort was certainly there.
“Games like this just come down to details. They were able to score more often on less chances, and we had more chances but weren’t able to climb all the way back”
Luke Opilka (20-4-2-0) saw a seven-game win streak halted despite a solid effort in goal for the Rangers, turning aside 24 of 29 shots from the Knights.
JJ Piccinich opened the game’s scoring, capitalizing on a Rangers turnover just 16 seconds into the first period to give the Knights a 1-0 lead, assisted by Mitch Marner. The Knights would outshoot the Rangers 11-8 in the first period, but it was the Rangers who would take charge both on the shot clock and the scoresheet to start the second.
Like the first, the second period was graced with a goal less than a minute into play, this time by the Rangers as Gustaf Franzen evened things up 1-1 with a power play goal just 33 seconds into the frame, assisted by MacInnis and Bracco. The power play goal on home ice means another $100 donation to Clarky’s Kids via Heffner Toyota.
Connor Bunnaman would register his 12th goal of the season just 1:32 later giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead, with the lone assist going to Franzen at 2:05. The Rangers controlled much of the play in the opening ten minutes of the period, but London would press in the latter half, scoring the equalizer on an Aaron Berisha goal at 11:45 from Christian Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk. Mete would give the Knights a 3-2 lead at 14:45, assisted by Kole Sherwood to send the game into the second intermission. Shots were 18-9 Kitchener in the second period for a two-period total of 26-20 Rangers.
As the Rangers did to begin the second, the Knights took control to start the third as Berisha’s second of the game gave the Knights a two-goal lead, 4-2, at 1:23 from Dvorak and Tkachuk. Daniel Bernhardt put the Knights up 5-2 just 1:22 later with his first goal of the season at 2:45 from Cliff Pu and Evan Bouchard.
Dylan Di Perna would tally his third marker of the season to get the Rangers to within two, making it a 5-3 game at 9:19, assisted by MacInnis and Bracco. MacInnis would make it a one-goal game with his 23rd of the season, cutting the Knights lead to 5-4 from Bracco and Bunnaman at 12:27.
The Rangers would pull Opilka with over two minutes remaining in the period and press for the equalizer with multiple chances, but time ran out on the comeback bid as the Rangers would settle for their first regulation loss in five games.
Final shots were 40-29 in favour of the Rangers, including 14-9 in the third period.
Kitchener would finish the night 1-for-5 on the power play, while London would go 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
Pu (3), MacInnis (2) and Berisha (1) were chosen as the Three Stars of the Game.
Brian Brosnan, Frank Hora and Brandon Robinson each wore ‘A’s and skated as alternates to captain Ryan MacInnis.
The Rangers return to action on Friday when they host another Midwest division rival, the Erie Otters, at 7:30pm.
Tickets for the Rangers next home game, or any other future Rangers home games are available online at kitchenerrangers.com, by calling Centre in the Square, or through The Aud Box Office.
