Rangers post Friday victory for fifth win in last seven games
Kitchener, Ont. – Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) found the back of the net with 4:22 remaining in the game to send 5,879 fans to their feet en-route to a 1-0 victory over the Saginaw Spirit at The Aud Friday night. Marco Costantini made 18 saves to earn his first shutout as a Ranger in the triumph, leading Kitchener to their fifth victory in their last seven games.
It was a scoreless first period at The Aud, but it wasn’t short of chances. Kitchener went to the power-play twice in the period but couldn’t find the back of the goal. Saginaw’s best chance of the period came three minutes in off a forced turnover in the slot which saw a Marco Costantini glove save. Shots favoured the Rangers 9-7 after 20 minutes.
The game remained scoreless through 40 minutes of play. The Rangers had another pair of power-plays, but still couldn’t put one across the line. They came close on a back-door pass that never connected. Saginaw had an opportunity as well, but Costantini turned back the clock with a two-pad-stack save to keep the game scoreless. Shots remained in favour of the Blueshirts 16-14 after two periods.
The Rangers did a great job of keeping the league’s second-best power-play at bay killing two penalties in the third period. After a great offensive shift by the line of Rehkopf-Pinelli-Mešár, the Rangers drew a crucial penalty call. Shortly after the power-play expired, Carson Rehkopf made a determined effort to the net from the goal line, trying to feed a pass to Adam Zidlicky in the slot, but his pass was deflected to the point for Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) to fire a shot through the legs of Tristan Lennox to break the ice for the eventual game-winning goal with 4:22 left in the contest.
Saginaw pulled their goalie with three minutes left in regulation, but the Rangers stood tall and didn’t allow the equalizing goal to come. Marco Costantini made arguably his best save of the night with 3.8 seconds left in the game sticking out his right pad to deny Saginaw on the goal line.
Kitchener finished the game 0-for-5 on the power-play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Final shots in the contest ended in favour of the Blueshirts 21-18. Matthew Sop earned the game’s second star and Roman Schmidt earned the game’s first star with the game-winning goal. The third star was awarded to Roberto Mancini of the Saginaw Spirit.
Next up: The East Avenue Blue stay home as the club hosts the Owen Sound Attack at The Aud for the second time this season this Tuesday. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. Great seats are still available and can be purchased online 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]
