Rangers earn road win in school day action at the Hershey Centre
Kole Sherwood scored twice and Mario Culina made 27 saves as the Kitchener Rangers (37-15-2-0) picked up a 3-2 Valentine’s Day win over the Mississauga Steelheads (24-27-0-2) in front of 5,482 fans during school day game action on at the Hershey Centre on Wednesday.
It was the 10th straight win for Culina (12-5-2-0) who remains undefeated in goal since being acquired by the Rangers at the trade deadline.
Jacob Ingham (13-18-0-2) took the loss in goal for the Fish, surrendering three goals on 22 Rangers’ shots.
Albert Michnac opened the game’s scoring with his 21st of the season, a power play goal from Ryan McLeod and Mathieu Foget, at 7:49 of the first period.
But the Rangers answered back quickly as Logan Brown notched his 17th of the season just 32 seconds later, from Adam Mascherin, at 8:21 to make it a 1-1 game.
Sherwood’s first of the afternoon put the Rangers up 2-1, assisted by Michael Vukojevic and Joseph Garreffa at 14:35, before Sherwood’s second made it 3-1, from Brown and Garreffa, at 17:24 and rounded out first period scoring.
Shots were 8-8 after 20 minutes of play, and 20-17 in favour of Mississauga after a scoreless second period.
With over seven minutes remaining in regulation the Steelheads cut the Rangers lead to 3-2, as Nicholas Canade registered his fifth goal of the season, from Reagan O’Grady and Mathieu Foget at 12:41.
The Steelheads pulled Ingham with 1:40 to play in an attempt to tie the game, but the Rangers held on for their third straight win.
The Rangers were 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Steelheads were 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
Albert Michnac (MIS) (3), Kole Sherwood (KIT) (2), and Mario Culina (KIT) (1) were selected as the Three Stars of the Game.
Logan Brown, Adam Mascherin, and Givani Smith each wore an “A” and skated as alternates to Rangers’ captain Connor Bunnaman.
The Rangers are back in action on Friday when they travel to London to take on the Knights for a 7pm start. They don’t return to the Memorial Auditorium until Friday, February 23 when they play host to the Sudbury Wolves at 7:30pm.
Regular season tickets to all Kitchener Rangers home games are $23.00 each for adults, $19.00 for children 12 and under including HST, and are available in person or by calling the Activa Box Office at The Aud, from Centre in the Square (519) 578-1570 -or- 1-800-265-8977, or by purchasing online.
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