Rangers win a nail-biter against the Generals, 3-2
Oshawa, ON: The Kitchener Rangers headed east to Oshawa to play the Generals for First Responders Night at the Tribute Communities Centre. The Blue Shirts came out of the gate hot and dominated the first period of play for all but the last minute. Jonathan Yantsis scored his first of the night to put the Rangers up 1-0 and with five seconds left in the period, Tyler Tullio tied it up for the Generals, 1-1.
The second period, despite a strong start for Oshawa, belonged to the Rangers. Alexey Lipanov scored his second of the season and Yantsis scored his second on the night, both on the powerplay, and Kitchener went into the final period up 3-1.
The Generals tried to mount a comeback in the third and thanks to Kyle MacLean, they came within one but Luke Richardson and the Rangers stood tall, despite getting outshot 17-4 in the final frame, and won 3-2.
–
The Rangers came out firing on all cylinders in Oshawa on Saturday night. The Blue Shirts started the game outshooting the Generals 7-0 and that led to a rather unbelievable goal by Yantsis (10) who put the puck between his legs to slide it past Oshawa’s Cole Ceci to make it 1-0.
There appeared to be no resting on last night’s loss to the Sault as the first period was decisively in Kitchener’s favour despite starting the game with just 17 skaters including Waterloo Siskin, Joseph Serpa, who was playing his first game for the Rangers this season.
Ultimately, the Rangers outplayed the Generals all period — outshooting them 15-6 — but with just 5.1 seconds left in the period, Tyler Tulio squeaked one by Richardson to tie the game, 1-1.
The second period featured more even, back-and-forth play with the Rangers and Generals pinning one another in their defensive zones for long periods of time, which created many quality chances for either team.
At 9:03 of the period, on the Rangers first powerplay of the game, Lipanov uncorked an absolute laser beam from the point that put Kitchener up 2-1. Chase Campbell had a helper on the play.
The Rangers powerplay was on point during the middle period of play, that much was for sure. Just three-seconds into their second man-advantage, Yantsis (11) put away his second goal of the night and just like that it was 3-1.
Kitchener’s penalty kill was equally up to the task of shutting down the Generals offensive opportunities and on a late-period Michael Vukojevic penalty, Richardson and company were able to maintain the Rangers two-goal advantage.
Period two ended with the Rangers up 24-18 in shots.
After a fight between Arber Xhekaj and Serron Noel resulted in Noel, the Generals leading goal scorer, taking an instigator penalty that saw him leave the game for good, Oshawa pulled within one on a tic-tac-toe goal for MacLean to make it 3-2.
The final two minutes of the game were all Oshawa and with just over a minute left, Ceci left his net to put the Generals up an attacker. There were a flurry of shots in front of Richardson but the Rangers netminder came up big late in the game and sealed the win for Kitchener, 3-2.
The Generals outshot the Rangers in the third period 17-4, and 35-28 overall.
Kitchener returns to action on at The Aud on Tuesday, October 30 at 7:00 pm to face the Guelph Storm. The next away game for Kitchener is on Tuesday, November 6 at 7:05 pm vs Peterborough.
Tickets still available for all regular season home games. Purchase yours in person at the Activa Box Office at The Aud or Centre in the Square Box Office, by phone (519) 578-1570 or 1-800-265-8977, or online.
Join the conversation on all things Rangers by using #RTown. You can follow the Rangers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @OHLRangers.
Click here to view the complete game summary.
