Rangers fall to rival Knights on Friday night at The Aud
The London Knights continue to have the Kitchener Rangers number, and tonight that number rose to 14.
Max Jones notched a hat trick and Joseph Raaymakers stopped 35 of 36 shots in his Knights debut in goal as London (2-8-1-0) dropped the Rangers (7-4-1-0), 5-1, in front of 7,289 fans at The Aud on Friday night.
It was the 14th straight victory by the Knights over the Rangers, as Kitchener’s search for their first win over London since the 2015-16 campaign continues.
Luke Richardson (1-3-1-0) saw his record dip to 1-3-1-0 after suffering the loss, surrendering five goals on 38 Knights’ shots.
Raaymakers (1-0-0-0) earned his first victory in a Knights uniform after joining the club earlier this week in a trade with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
The Knights opened the scoring just 1:11 into the game as Max Jones, from Evan Bouchard and Shane Collins, made it 1-0 London.
Ten minutes later they would take a 2-0 lead on a shorthanded breakaway goal scored by Robert Thomas – unassisted – at 11:50 of the first period.
The teams went to their respective dressing rooms with the Knights leading 2-0 on the scoreboard, but the Rangers leading in shots, 16-10.
Another quick goal to start a period went the way of the Knights as Thomas tallied his second of the night during 4-on-4 play at the 1:46 mark of the middle frame. Alec Regula earned the single helper to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.
London went up 4-0 in another special teams situation, this time while on the power play, as Jones cashed in his second of the game, from Cole Tymkin and Cliff Pu, at 9:16.
Before the period was out the Rangers would get on the board, as Eric Guest notched his first of the season. He pounced on a miscue played by goaltender Raaymakers behind his own goal and capitalized into a wide-open cage. The Rangers goal cut the London lead to 4-1, which is how the game would enter the second intermission.
Shots on goal through 40 minutes of play favoured Kitchener, 26-20.
Jones completed the hat trick at 14:30 of the third period, a power play marker from Pu and Alex Formenton, which turned out to be the lone goal of the frame and iced the Knights 5-1 victory.
Final shots on goal favoured London, 38-36.
The Rangers would finish the game 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Knights went 2-for-7 with the man advantage.
Sam Miletic (LDN) (3), Robert Thomas (LDN) (2), and Max Jones (LDN) (1) were selected as the Three Stars of the Game.
Logan Stanley, Adam Mascherin, and Connor Hall each wore an “A” and skated as alternates to Rangers’ captain Bunnaman.
The game saw the Rangers’ debut of newcomer Kole Sherwood, who was acquired in a trade with the Flint Firebirds earlier this week. Sherwood would lead the Rangers with six shots, and played on a line with Rickard Hugg and Bunnaman.
The Rangers finish off their two-game weekend tomorrow when they make their lone trip of the season to Oshawa to take on the Generals at 7:05pm. The Blueshirts are back home next Friday, October 27th when they host the Owen Sound Attack 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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