Windsor, Ont. – Kitchener-native Matthew Sop recorded a two-goal game, Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) tallied a goal and an assist and goaltender Marco Costanini posted his fourth-career OHL Playoffs shutout making 31 saves en-route to a Rangers 4-0 road victory in front of a sellout crowd of 6,428 at the WFCU Centre Saturday.
With the win, eighth-seed Kitchener has now earned a 2-0 series lead over the Western Conference’s number-one seed Windsor Spitfires heading back home to The Aud for game’s three and four this Tuesday and Thursday.
Of note, tonight’s 4-0 win was the first time Windsor had been shutout in four years, including playoffs, which has been 225 games to date. The last time an eighth-seed upset a first-seed in the OHL Playoffs was London 18 years ago in 2005.
Francesco Pinelli and Kitchener-native Matthew Sop both scored shorthanded goals. Sop also added a power-play goal. Kitchener is now a combined 11-for-11 on the penalty kill throughout the first two games of the series.
Tonight, Kitchener had to kill off two early Windsor power-plays to start the game. On Windsor’s second opportunity with the man-advantage, Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) broke up the puck at centre ice and skated in for a breakaway. Pinelli beat Joey Costanzo with a slapshot from the hashmarks for his OHL-leading seventh shorthanded goal.
Just under the midway point through the opening period, Ty Hollett jumped on another turnover by the Spitfires, this time inside the Windsor zone. Hollett took the puck from the top of the left circle and fired a shot under the glove of the Windsor goaltender.
Kitchener held a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes of play and shots favoured the Spitfires 8-7. The Rangers were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
It was a special teams display by Matthew Sop in the second period. Windsor started the period on the power-play, but Mattew Sop got in behind the defence for a breakaway and pulled the puck to his backhand around the pad of Costanzo. Then, with Kitchener on the power-play, Sop parked himself in front on the Windsor goal and tapped-in a backdoor pass to end the night of the Windsor goaltender.
Kitchener led 4-0 through 40 minutes of play and shots favoured the Spitfires 21-20. Kitchener was 1-for-2 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in the period.
The Rangers played another strong third period, not letting Windsor get anything on the board and came away with the 4-0 victory. Final shots favoured the Spitfires 31-26. Kitchener finished the game 1-for-3 on the powerplay and a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty kill. Marco Costantini was the game’s third star with a 31-save shutout, Francesco Pinelli was the second star with a goal and an assist, and Matthew Sop was the first star of the game with two goals.
Next Up: The Rangers host the Spitfires on Tuesday, Apr. 4 and Thursday, Apr. 6, both at 7 p.m. for game’s three and four. Rangers’ playoff tickets are available on sale here.
Photo Credit: Remo Agostino / Windsor Spitfires
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