Kitchener, Ont. – The Kitchener Rangers earned their sixth victory in the last eight games and have now won two-straight on home-ice heading into this Friday’s annual Remembrance Day game at The Aud. The Blueshirts routed the Owen Sound Attack in front of 5,383 fans Tuesday and have now recorded back-to-back 7-1 Tuesday victories in Kitchener.
Rangers’ netminder Marco Costantini was solid again stopping 27 of 28 shots he faced on the night. Five Kitchener skaters recorded multi-point games led by Joseph Serpa with four points (1G, 3A). Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Mitchell Martin both had three points each. Jesse Fishman and Antonino Pugliese both recorded their first points of the season as well.
Marco Costantini was solid again stopping 27/28 shots he faced tonight. Five Kitchener skaters recorded multi-point games led by Joseph Serpa with four points (1G, 3A) tonight. Jesse Fishman and Antonino Pugliese both recorded their first points of the season as well.
Kitchener started the game hot recording eight-straight shots and holding Owen Sound without a shot on goal for more than half-way through the first period until the 11:35 mark. On the Rangers second power-play opportunity of the period they opened the scoring. Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) slid a back door pass for Joseph Serpa to strike first at the 15:54 mark.
Kitchener doubled their lead shortly after at the 18:29 mark of the opening frame. Serpa sent a seem pass to Adrian Misaljevic to direct the puck on goal. Misaljevic’s attempt was stopped but the rebound popped out into the slot for Simon Motew to wire the puck past a sprawling Corbin Votary. The first period ended with Kitchener ahead 2-0 in the game and leading 14-4 in shots.
The majority of the action in the second period came again in the final five minutes of the period. On Kitchener’s fourth power-play of the game, Owen Sound appeared to have drawn within a goal at 14:39, but the play was deemed offside. 21 seconds after that, they cut the lead in half still scoring shorthanded. A Cedrick Guindon (Montréal Canadiens) wrist shot from the slot beat Marco Costantini over the blocker into the top-left corner.
On the same Kitchener power-play, the Blueshirts responded. Just 30 seconds after the Attack goal, the lead was back to two on their second power-play goal of the game. Joseph Serpa slid a pass from the slot to the left faceoff dot for Filip Mešar (Montréal Canadiens) to one-time home his fifth goal of the season. The second period ended by the same margin with Kitchener ahead 3-1 and shots favouring the Rangers 28-15.
Kitchener exploded for four third period goals to put the contest out of reach and secure the two points. Mitchell Martin scored 10 seconds into the period to extend the lead to 4-1. At 4:04, a nice give-and-go play play between Matthew Sop and Joseph Serpa was scored by Sop on a back door pass by Serpa. Jesse Fishman scored his first goal of the season off a determined effort in front of the goal. He collected the loose rebound at the side of the goal and shoved the puck across the line. Finally, at 18:33 Carson Rehkopf scored the seventh goal of the game for Kitchener sending Rangers fans home happy.
Kitchener finished the game 3-for-6 on the power-play and a perfect 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. All three stars of the game were awarded to Ranger skaters. Joseph Serpa was star number one with one goal and three assists. Mitchell Martin was the second star and Tomas Hamara the third. Final shots in the game favoured the Rangers 39-28.
Next up: The Rangers get set for their 17th–annual Remembrance Day game at The Aud this Friday night as the clubs hosts the Mississauga Steelheads. The Rangers will debut special Remembrance Day jerseys to be worn by the Rangers during Friday’s game only. Great seats are still available and can be purchased online here.
Photo Credit: Tiffany Luke / Kitchener Rangers