Rangers drop first game of home-and-home to Knights 4-1
The London Knights staved off five Kitchener Rangers power plays and had goals from four different skaters as they defeated the visitors 4-1 in front of 9,046 fans at Budweiser Gardens on Sunday afternoon.
The win improves the Knights to 46-13-2-1 on the season, while the Rangers remain at 40 wins, dipping to 40-13-5-2. London increases their point total to 95, now leading the Rangers (87) by eight points in the Midwest Division and Western Conference standings.
The Knights now trail the Otters (97) by just two points, with Erie hosting the Niagara IceDogs this evening at 5pm. Kitchener maintains a game in hand on both the Knights and Otters.
Tyler Parsons earned his seventh straight win in goal for the Knights, allowing just one goal on 32 shots while improving his record to 33-8-2-1 on the season.
Luke Opilka (26-8-3-2) was dealt the loss, making 20 saves on 24 shots in goal for the Rangers.
“We were just playing too slow,” said Rangers head coach Mike Van Ryn, post-game. “I told the guys that between the first and second period, and I thought our second period was a lot better.
“We were driving to the net and started getting chances. If we could have buried a few of those chances and made it 2-1 it might have been a different game, but their trap was effective today and they’re a team that can finish.
“Parsons was good for them, but we just gotta figure out ways to put the puck in and play a little quicker on Tuesday.”
The Rangers and Knights will meet again in just two days time when the regular season series between the two clubs wraps up at the Aud on Tuesday night at 7pm.
Aaron Berisha with his 39th of the season opened the game’s scoring after a pass from Cliff Pu found him alone in front, giving the Knights a 1-0 lead at 2:03 of the first period, with Max Jones picking up the other assist.
JJ Piccinich made it 2-0 after throwing a relatively harmless looking rebound towards the net which deflected off the back of Opilka’s shoulder and into the net at 5:52, with assists to Victor Mete and Owen MacDonald.
Connor Hall came close to cutting the Knights lead to one in the final moment of the period, rifling a shot from the left point which beat Parsons, but hit the left post and stayed out.
The game would head to the first intermission with the Knights up 2-0, with London outshooting Kitchener 11-9 through the first 20 minutes.
Olli Juolevi gave the Knights a 3-0 lead with a power play goal with just 55 seconds remaining in the second, from Matthew Tkachuk and Berisha, for the only goal of the period. Shots were 12-8 Kitchener in the middle frame for a two period total of 21-19 in favour of the Rangers.
Tkachuk would make it a 4-0 game at 8:50 of the third from Mitch Marner, but David Miller played spoiler to Parsons’ shutout bid with just 1:58 to play to make it a 4-1. Gustaf Franzen picked up the lone assist on the Rangers lone goal of the afternoon, to round out the scoring.
Final shots were 32-24 Kitchener, including 11-5 in the third.
The Rangers power play was stifled going 0-for-5, while the Knights were 1-for-3 with the man advantage.
Jacob Graves (3), Tkachuk (2) and Parsons (1) were chosen as the Three Stars of the Game.
Darby Llewellyn, Gustaf Franzen and Brandon Robinson each wore ‘A’s and skated as alternate captains to Rangers captain Ryan MacInnis.
The Rangers are back in action on Tuesday, March 8th when they return to the Aud to once again take on the Knights for a 7pm start.
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.
1st – LDN Aaron Berisha (39) (Cliff Pu, Max Jones), 2:03
1st – LDN JJ Piccinich (28) (Victor Mete, Owen MacDonald), 5:52
2nd – LDN Olli Juolevi (9) (Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Berisha), 19:05 (PP)
3rd – LDN Matthew Tkachuk (25) (Mitchell Marner), 8:50
3rd – KIT David Miller (11) (Gustaf Franzen), 18:02
