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OHL Kitchener Rangers

Eighth-Seed Kitchener Earns Game One Victory Over First-Seed Windsor Thursday

March 30, 2023 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kitchener Rangers News Release


Windsor, Ont. - The eighth-seed Kitchener Rangers posted a 5-3 road victory over the number-one seed Windsor Spitfires in game one of the best-of-seven OHL Playoffs Thursday night. Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) had a three-point night, Reid Valade tallied a pair of goals and Marco Costantini made 29 saves on 32 shots in the victory.

Kitchener did not shy away from the one-seed Spitfires taking the lead 40 seconds into the opening frame. Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) with a nice play to skate into open ice and find Reid Valade at the backdoor for a tap-in. The, Adrian Misaljevic doubled Kitchener's lead at 9:02 with a one-timer on a cross-ice feed from Carson Rehkopf to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

Windsor would end the period with a goal to cut the Kitchener lead in half. Brett Harrison was able to squeak a shot through the body of Marco Costantini to make it a 2-1 game after 20 minutes of play. Shots favoured the Rangers 14-11.

The teams played to the same score line in the second period with Kitchener scoring twice and Windsor once. With Windsor on the power-play, Francesco Pinelli who led the league with five short-handed goals, made a strong drive to the goal and slid the puck under the leg of Joey Costanzo for his first short-handed goal of the postseason. Two minuted after the Ranger's goal, Shane Wright (Seattle Kraken) cut the lead to one, collecting the puck behind the net on a missed shot and wrapped the puck around beating Marco Costantini to the post.

Less than two minutes after the Windsor goal, Trent Swick got a shift with Pinelli and Mešár and made good scoring Kitchener's fourth goal of the game to give them a 4-2 advantage with 8:31 to play in the middle frame. Shots favoured the Spitfires 25-24 after 40 minutes.

Kitchener played a perfect third period and were able to drain the clock to 1:04 left in the game for Reid Valade to pot his second goal of the game into the empty net. Windsor scored with 23 seconds left in the game to make it 5-3, but the game was already out of reach.

Kitchener secured a 5-3 victory and outshot the Spitfires 39-32. Kitchener were 0-for-1 on the power-play and a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Reid Valade earned the games second star with a two-goal performance and Francesco Pinelli was the game's first star with one goal and two assists.

Next Up: The Rangers continue their best-of-seven series against the Spitfires Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. at the WFCU Centre in Windsor. The series will switch back to Kitchener for Games 3 & 4 on Tuesday, Apr. 4 and Thursday, Apr. 6, both at 7 p.m. Rangers' playoff tickets are available now.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 30, 2023


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