Wassilyn’s goal streak hits five, Spirit manage point in Kitchener Friday
Photo: Nick Oreskovic
Kitchener, Ont. – The Saginaw Spirit fell to the Kitchener Rangers in a 4-3 overtime loss at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Friday night. Braidy Wassilyn scored two goals in the contest while Dima Zhilkin scored his fifth of the season. Goaltender Brady Knowling made 27 saves on 31 shots.
After 20 minutes of back-and-forth action, no goals were scored in the first period. Brady Knowling of Saginaw and Jason Schaubel of Kitchener kept the game scoreless.
After 1: SAG 0 – 0 KIT (Total shots: 6 – 5)
Charlie Puglisi opened the scoring for the Rangers with a shot over the blocker of Brady Knowling. The powerplay goal was assisted by Haeden Ellis and Alex Forrest at 2:19 in the period.
The Spirit got on the board with a breakaway goal from Braidy Wassilyn. After a Ranger player intercepted a pass from Dmitry Savin, Wassilyn stripped the puck and slipped a backhand shot around Schaubel. Wassilyn’s goal streak now has reached five games, having scored in every game so far.
Dima Zhilikin put Saginaw in the lead with a backhand goal assisted by Dmitry Savin at 10:17, making the score 2-1. Savin won a puck battle in the near corner, and Zhilkin made the power move around a defender for his fifth goal of the year.
Avry Anstis tied the game at 13:24. The goal was assisted by Forrest and Dmitri Toporowski when the Rangers took advantage of Blake Barnes losing a stick.
After 2: SAG 2 – 2 KIT (2nd period shots: 5 – 13 Total shots: 11 – 18)
Wassilyn scored his second of the game with a power play goal at 9:09 in the period. Jacob Cloutier got the lone assist after a faceoff win. Wassilyn fired a shot low on Schaubel for his sixth goal of the season.
A shot from the face-off dot from Luca Santala tied the game for the Rangers 3-3 inside the final two minutes. The goal was assisted by Luca Romano and Alexander Bilecki when the Rangers pulled their goalie for the extra attacker.
After 3: SAG 3 – 3 KIT (3rd period shots: 5 – 12 Total shots: 16 – 30)
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the third period allowed the Rangers to start the overtime period on the power play. Santala scored his second goal of the game ten seconds into OT, assisted by Bilecki and Romano.
Final: SAG 3 – 4 KIT (Overtime period shots: 0 – 1 Total shots: 16 – 31)
Powerplays: SAG 1/2 KIT 2/2
Goaltenders: SAG: Brady Knowling (27 saves, 31 shots) KIT: Jason Schaubel (13 saves, 16 shots, W)
The Saginaw Spirit are back in action on October 3rd against the Brampton Steelheads at CAA Center. Puck drop is at 4:00pm.
