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OHL Kitchener Rangers

Rangers Post Fifth-Straight Victory, Win 9-0 Friday

December 16, 2022 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kitchener Rangers News Release


Kitchener, Ont. - Nine different goal scorers found the back of the net for the Rangers in a 9-0 victory over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds before 6,187 fans at The Aud Friday night. Marco Costantini recorded his second shutout with the Rangers, Francesco Pinelli recorded a five-point (1G, 4A) night and newcomers Francesco Arcuri (1G, 1A) and Lleyton Moore (2A) each played a role in the victory.

With the win, Kitchener has now won five-straight games and six of their last seven contests heading into the Christmas Break.

Both Ranger additions, Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) and Lleyton Moore lined up for the opening draw in tonight's game for the first time in front of over 6,000 Kitchener faithful at The Aud. Both teams settled into the game before the Greyhounds were sent to the box for roughing. 12 seconds into the ensuing power-play, a tic-tac-toe play between Carson Rehkopf, Reid Valade and Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) was converted at 13:14 of to open the scoring. A pass from the top of the left circle from Rehkopf, down to the goal line for Valade, back up to the right faceoff dot for Pinelli to wire a wrist shot into the top left corner beating Samuel Ivanov over the blocker.

Heading into the first intermission Kitchener was leading by a score of 1-0 and shots favoured the Blueshirts 10-6.

Kitchener opened the game up in the second period adding four goals, two more on the power-play. Cameron Mercer got things started netting his first goal of the season. The Rangers made a nice play at the blueline to keep the puck in the zone and work it into the high slot for Mercer to fire a shot into the top left corner. Lleyton Moore picked up his first point as a Ranger with a secondary assist on the play.

Then at 14:20 Matthew Sop extended his point streak to five with his seventh goal of the season. Pinelli faked a shot in the high slot drawing a defender to him, leaving Sop all alone in front of the net to drag the puck around an outstretched Sam Ivanov.

With just under five minutes to play in the second period Kitchener was awarded a 5-on-3 power-play. With the two-man advantage, Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) wanted in on the action a scored his first goal as a Ranger and 24th of the season. Francesco Pinelli set up his new linemate for a one-timer at the right face-off dot, beating the Greyhound goalie over the glove.

Back on the man advantage at 18:42 of the middle frame, Carson Rehkopf scored another goal on the power-play. It was a patented Rehkopf wrist shot through traffic into the top left corner. The score was 5-0 Kitchener 40 minutes of play and shots favoured the Rangers 19-13.

Just like the second period, Kitchener added another four goals in the third period, scoring nine unanswered in the game. First it was Adam Zidlicky to make it 5-0 after an errant clearing attempt found his stick all alone in front of the Greyhound net. At 12:55 Hunter Brzustewicz scored his second goal of the season with a point-shot that found its way through bodies in front. Arcuri picked up an assist for his second point in his Rangers debut. One minute later, a point-shot from Matthew Andonovski was deflected in by Trent Swick to make it 8-0. The ninth and final goal was batted in out of mid-air by Reid Valade to cap off the night making it nine different goal scorers for Kitchener.

The final score was 9-0 for the Kitchener Rangers and shots favoured the Blueshirts 31-22. Kitchener finished the game 3-for-6 on the power-play and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The third star of the game was awarded to Marco Costantini with a 22 save shutout, the second star was awarded to Lleyton Moore with two assists in his Ranger debut, and the first star was awarded to Ranger captain Francesco Pinelli who capped off the night with five points (1G, 4A).

Next Up:

The Rangers will play their final game before the Christmas Break on the road this Sunday against the Steelheads in Mississauga at 2 p.m. The East Avenue Blue will host the Peterborough Petes in their next home game at The Aud on Friday, December 30th.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 16, 2022


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