Recap: Sarnia skates to Tuesday night victory in Kitchener
Kitchener, Ont. – The Rangers scored first Tuesday night but Sarnia routed for five unanswered goals to skate to a 5-1 victory in front of 5,581 fans at The Aud in Kitchener. Filip Mešár (Montreal Canadiens) scored for Kitchener and Marco Costantini made 29 saves on 34 shots in the contest.
It was a quick opening period between the two clubs as the only goal came 53 seconds into the game. Matthew Sop slid a pass through the legs of a Sarnia defender to Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens) all alone in front who beat Benjamin Gaudreau (San Jose Sharks) under the glove arm.
Kitchener led 1-0 and shots were knotted at 7-7 heading into the first intermission.
Sarnia turned the game on its head three minutes into the second period scoring twice in quick succession to take the lead. First at 2:16, Sarnia struck on the power-play as Sasha Pastujov (Anaheim Ducks) fed a pass down to Nolan Burke (Nashville Predators) with his back facing the goal. Burke spun his body towards the net and drove to the middle of the crease, sliding the puck around the pad of Marco Costantini.
Then, 50 seconds after that, a slot shot was stopped up around the chest area of Marco Costantini, but the rebound was immediately pounced on and wired home by Luca DelBelBelluz (Columbus Blue Jackets).
Sarnia led 2-1 and shots favoured the Sting 22-18 through 40 minutes of play.
It was all Sarnia in the final period adding three more unanswered goals to put the game out of reach. Ethan Ritchie scored a pair of power-play goals at 9:50 and 18:37, and Sasha Pastujov found the net at 15:09 to wrap things up.
The final score of the game was 5-1 for the Sting and final shots favoured Sarnia 34-23. Kitchener finished the game 0-for-2 on the powerplay and 0-for-3 on the penalty kill. All three stars of the game were awarded to members of Sarnia.
Next Up: The Rangers will play a three-in-three this weekend beginning Friday night at The Aud. Kitchener will host Guelph Friday, before playing Niagara Saturday and Guelph Sunday, both on the road.
Photo Credit: Tiffany Luke / Kitchener Rangers
For inquiries, contact:
Dominic Hennig
Senior Director, Broadcasting, Communications & Hockey Operations
Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club
519-497-9342
[email protected]