OHL Kitchener Rangers

Rangers' Strong Effort Not Enough in Flint Saturday

Published on January 7, 2023 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kitchener Rangers News Release


Flint, Mich. - Playing their last game on a five-day road trip, the Rangers led 3-1 near the midway point of the contest but Flint scored four straight goals en-route to a 5-4 victory over the Firebirds in front of 3,523 fans at the Dort Financial Center Saturday.

Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) recorded a three-point (2G, 1A) night, Michigan native Hunter Brzustewicz tallied a goal and an assist, and both Filip Mešár (Montreal Canadiens) and Carson Rehkopf recorded two assists. Marco Costantini made 32 saves on 36 shots.

It was déjà vu for the Rangers as on back-to-back nights, both opponents scored on their opening shot of the game. It took Flint only 14 seconds into the first period to open the scoring. A turnover at the Kitchener blueline sent the puck down to Gavin Hayes (Chicago Blackhawks) who was all alone in front and beat Marco Costantini over the glove. Kitchener responded well with Mešár connecting on a cross-crease pass with Danny Zhilkin (Winnipeg Jets) who roofed the puck over a sprawling Will Cranley (St. Louis Blues) to tie the game at 1-1.

Kitchener took their first lead of the game at 16:55 as Flint coughed the puck up behind their own net and the puck fell on to the stick of Hunter Brzustewicz as the Michigan native made no mistake firing the puck past the blocker of the Flint netminder. The score after 20 was 2-1 Kitchener with shots favouring the Firebirds 11-6.

The Rangers started the second period scoring their third unanswered goal of the game. A power-play goal ending an 0-for-11 drought by Arcuri at 2:26 gave Kitchener a 3-1 lead. Brzustewicz switched the play to the opposite side of the ice and Arcuri had time to walk in and fire a shot short-side beating Cranley up high.

Flint stormed back with two goals to tie the game again at 3-3. A nice play by Dmitry Kuzmin (Winnipeg Jets) outwaited everyone on the ice and slid the puck around Costantini through the crease for Amadeus Lombardi (Detroit Red Wings) to put the puck into the empty net. Then with 57 seconds remaining in the period, a weird bounce sent the puck high into the air which caused the Rangers to lose sight of the puck and Braden Kressler (Toronto Maple Leafs) tapped the puck through the legs of Marco Costantini to extend his point streak.

Through 40 minutes of play, the score was knotted at 3-3 and shots favoured the firebirds 25-13. The Firebirds doubled the Rangers in shots in that period 14-7.

In the final frame, Flint scored their third unanswered goal at 12:47 and took the lead for the second time since leading 1-0. A short-side shot was stopped by Costantini that fell in front of his body and Riley Piercy shot the puck from the top of the crease into the top right corner. The Firebirds added an empty net goal to make it 5-3 with Gavin Hayes scoring his second of the game.

Kitchener scored a power-play goal with one second on the clock to make it a one-score game, but there was not enough time to get the equalizer. Arcuri recorded the tally making to earn his 14th power-play goal on the year.

The final score in the game was 5-4 for Flint and shots favoured the Firebirds 37-21. Kitchener finished the game perfect on special teams play, going 2-for-2 on the power-play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. Arcuri was awarded the game's second star with two power-play goals.

Next Up: The Rangers' next home game is on Friday, Jan. 13 when the Blueshirts host the Oshawa Generals in a nationally televised game on TSN.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 7, 2023


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