OHL Kitchener Rangers

Third Period Push Falls Short in Erie Saturday

Published on January 28, 2023 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kitchener Rangers News Release


Erie, Penn. - A shorthanded goal for Erie late in the third period capped off a three-goal period for the Otters who earned a 6-4 win over the Kitchener Rangers Saturday. For the third consecutive game, both Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) and Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) found the back of the net in the same game, and Carson Rehkopf scored his first goal of 2023. Marcus Vandenberg made 26 saves on 31 shots between-the-pipes.

For the second consecutive game, Kitchener found themselves shorthanded in the first three minutes of the contest. However, on the ensuing penalty-kill, Matthew Sop was sprung for a two-on-one break with Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) and on the odd-man rush Sop threaded a pass through to Pinelli who was able to pull the puck to his backhand and slide the puck through the legs of the Erie goaltender.

Then at 11:31 the Rangers doubled their lead on Francesco Arcuri's (Dallas Stars) 32nd goal of the season. A wrist shot snapped into the top right corner from the top of the left circle beat Nolan Lalonde (Columbus Blue Jackets) over the glove arm.

Kitchener was leading 2-0 and shots favoured the Otters 10-9 after period number one.

The second period belonged to the Erie Otters as they stormed back with three unanswered goals to earn a 3-2 lead in the game. At 17:17, Pano Fimis went down to a knee to fire a shot from the top of the right circle to beat Marcus Vandenberg over the blocker arm into the top left corner. Then, Liam Gilmartin scored back-to-back goals at 11:25 and 16:42 to tie and give Erie the lead in the game. The goals came five minutes apart and Gilmartin ended an eleven-game goalless drought.

Through 40 minutes of play, Erie led 3-2 with shots favouring the Otters 22-16. Erie also outshot the Rangers 12-7 in the second period.

Kitchener headed to the man-advantage for four minutes as Erie was handed a double-minor penalty for an errant high-stick. Francesco Pinelli found Carson Rehkopf through a bunch of sticks cross ice for Rehkopf to fire home his first goal of 2023 to tie the game at 3-3.

Erie handed Kitchener a knockout blow as on the second half of the Rangers' power-play, an attempted pass up the ice by Marcus Vandenberg was intercepted by Carey Terrance who made no mistake all alone in front of the net to deke around the Kitchener netminder. That electrified the Otters, as less than two minutes later at 12:32, a point shot by Owain Johnston was deflected in front by Ondrej Molnar that beat Marcus Vandenberg over the glove.

Kitchener converted on another power-play goal with 2:38 remaining in the game as a shot was stopped by the Erie netminder before Mitchell Martin tallied on the doorstep on a rebound through the legs of Nolan Lalonde. The Rangers push for an equalizer would come up short as Carey Terrance potted his second of the night into the empty net with 33 seconds left.

The final score ended 6-4 for the Otters and final shots favoured Erie 32-27. Kitchener finished the game 2-for-6 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. All three stars of the game were awarded to members of the Erie Otters.

Next Up: The Rangers welcome the Sarnia Sting to The Aud for the first time since the opening game of the season. Puck drop is set for 7p.m. on Tuesday evening.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 28, 2023


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