Rangers drop first regulation contest in seven games Friday to Peterborough
Kitchener, Ont. – For the first time in seven games, the Rangers dropped a regulation contest. The first line of Peterborough combined for 10 points on the night, adding three power-play goals, en-route to a 6-2 decision. The Rangers hosted a near capacity crowd of 7,192 fans, the largest at The Aud since before the pandemic.
Reid Valade and Carson Rehkopf scored for Kitchener. Marco Costantini made 18 saves on 23 shots. Marcus Vandenberg was perfect on six shots in a relief effort.
Action started to heat up with less than five minutes to play in the first period. The Rangers took two penalties 12 seconds apart giving the Petes a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:48. The second of those penalties was a match penalty assessed to Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) for a slew foot.
41 seconds into that ensuing power-play, Peterborough opened the scoring to take a 1-0 lead. Tucker Robertson (Seattle Kraken) found his way to the high slot for a slap-pass to the right side of the goal for J.R. Avon (Philadelphia Flyers) to direct the puck past the pad of Marco Costantini. Through 20 minutes, Peterborough was leading 1-0 and shots favoured the Rangers 10-9.
Peterborough opened things up in the second period scoring three more times to make it four unanswered in the game.
J.R Avon got his second of the night beating the Rangers defence out wide to slide the puck into the open net. Then, at 14:49, a centering pass was deflected off the back skate of Hunter Brzustewicz who was trying to take the man behind the net that deflected the puck through the legs of Costantini. Tucker Robertson was credited with the goal. With 1:35 to play in the period, a point shot was deflected by Tucker Robertson at the top of the crease scoring his second consecutive goal in the game.
Heading into the second intermission, Peterborough held a 4-0 lead with shots still favouring the Rangers 23-22.
Peterborough added a fifth as Tucker Robertson completed his hat-trick with a shot from the right face-off dot beating Costantini blocker side. That goal ended his night as Rangers’ netminder Marcus Vandenberg replaced him in goal.
Kitchener added two power-play goals to make the game tight with just under nine minutes to play in the game. Carson Rehkopf scored his 12th power-play goal and 17th of the season. Rehkopf and Francesco Pinelli (assist) extended their point-streaks on the goal. The second power-play goal was scored by Reid Valade as he also extended his streak putting home a rebound off a Francesco Arcuri shot.
Peterborough would add a sixth with the net empty to win the game by a score of 6-2.
Final shots favoured the Rangers 35-28. Kitchener finished the game 2-for-5 on the power-play and 4-for-7 on the penalty kill. All three stars of the game were awarded to members of the Peterborough Petes.
Next Up: The Rangers head to Windsor tonight to begin a four-game road trip. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. on the New Year’s Eve Matinée at the WFCU Centre Saturday. The Rangers’ next home game is on Friday, Jan. 13 when the Blueshirts host the Oshawa Generals in a nationally televised game on TSN. Great seats are still available and can be purchased online here.
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]
