Highlights: Rangers score six in Oshawa, open March in the win column
Oshawa, Ont. – The Rangers have posted two-straight victories and now have points in seven of their last nine games after earning a 6-4 road victory in Oshawa Wednesday night. Kitchener outshot Oshawa 38-37, Rangers’ captain Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) recorded a three-point (1G, 2A) night, Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) scored twice to hit the 40-goal mark for the first time in his OHL career, Danny Zhilkin (Winnipeg Jets) added two goals and Marco Costantini made 33 saves on 37 shots in the victory.
At 10:41 of the first period, Carson Rehkopf sent a pass from the left hashmark down to Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) at the bottom of the right circle to one-time his 15th power-play goal and 40th goal of the season. The added goal ranks him in the top three in both even-strength and power-play goals in the OHL this year.
Former Ranger and Cambridge native Joseph Serpa believed to have tied the game at 1-1 for the Generals, but after a review, it was deemed offside. With just over a minute to play in the opening period, a shorthanded two-on-one broke out for the Rangers. Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) had Matthew Sop along with him, but Pinelli kept it and fired far-side to score his team-leading fourth short-handed goal to earn the Rangers a 2-0 lead.
On the same power-play, Oshawa stormed right back to cut the lead in half. Cameron Butler had a slot-shot squeak through the glove arm of Marco Costantini and trickle across the line. Kitchener led 2-1 through 20 minutes and shots favoured the Blueshirts 12-10.
Kitchener opened the second period with two unanswered goals to give them a three-goal lead. Cameron Mercer scored his second of the season, as he cleaned up a point-shot that never made its way to the goal. Then, Arcuri scored his second of the game two minutes later off another one-timer from the right face-off dot to make it 4-1.
Oshawa scored to cut the lead to two goals on their second consecutive power-play. Stuart Rolofs slid home a puck lose in the crease for his 28th of the season. Zhilkin then restored the three-goal lead for Kitchener with 2:19 left in the period to make it a 5-2 game for the Rangers. Shots favoured the Rangers after 40 minutes 25-23.
Oshawa gave Kitchener a fight as they scored twice in the opening four minutes of the third period to make it a 5-4 game. Cameron Butler and Beckett Sennecke scored for the Generals with Stuart Rolofs picking up his 100th-career OHL point on the Butler goal. Kitchener then settled into the rest of the period and Zhilkin added an empty net goal with one minute left to play to secure the 6-4 victory for Kitchener.
The final shots in the game favoured the Rangers 38-37. Kitchener finished the game 2-for-6 on the power-play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. Francesco Arcuri earned the game’s third star with a two-goal night and Francesco Pinelli was the game’s first star with one goal and two assists.
Next Up: The Rangers are back on home-ice this Friday night against the Erie Otters at 7:30 p.m for the Rangers’ Registered Early Childhood Educators Game. Less than 400 seats remain 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]
