Comeback kings

Rangers work back from two-goal deficit to edge Otters

The comeback kings were at it again.

It wasn’t pretty but the Kitchener Rangers found a way to rally in the third period before edging the Erie Otters 3-2 in overtime Sunday evening.

It was the third time this week that the Blueshirts have fallen behind only to eek out a victory in the late stages of the game.

And while exciting to watch, it’s a trend the team is hoping to change.

“The players might (like it),” said Rangers bench boss Jay McKee.

“The coaching staff doesn’t like it a whole lot. Adam Mascherin was the hero. The Florida Panthers prospect skated end-to-end past three Otters before backhanding the winner over Erie netminder Troy Timpano 1:43 into overtime.

And it was a bit of redemption for the fourth year forward.

Earlier in the game, Mascherin didn’t pick up defenceman Jordan Sambrook on an Otters rush and the veteran put the home side up 2-0 on the play.

“Normally Mash (Mascherin) is good at looking over his shoulder and finding his guy but he didn’t there and we put ourselves behind on that one,” said McKee.

It was a sluggish start for the visitors, who arrived in town Saturday night in order to avoid travel fatigue.

Erie did its damage in a 37second span by potting a pair before the six-minute mark of the first period for a quick 2-0 lead.

“We stressed coming out ready and being into it and I don’t think we were,” said McKee, whose club improved to 18-9-2-0.

“We were missing assignments early in the game and we didn’t look sharp,” he said. “We have to address that in the games moving forward.”

Kitchener’s Greg Meireles cut the lead in half before the first intermission and the score remained 2-1 until teammate Adam Liska tied things up by poking in his sixth goal of the season midway through the third.

“The guys are happy even though we probably didn’t play our best,” said Meireles, who has scored in his past three games.

“But I think we should stop making it hard for ourselves and get a little more focused before games and come out stronger.”

Timpano was shaky for the Otters and made the initial save on all three Rangers goals but couldn’t control the rebounds.

It was a different story across the ice where Kitchener’s Luke Richardson made 31 saves in one of his better outings of late.

“Every win is a good win and it’s good to see that the guys are able to come back from deficits like we have in the past few games but we certainly want to get off to better starts,” said McKee.

Kitchener returns home Tuesday to host the Windsor Spitfires (15-10-2-0) for Teddy Bear Toss night at the Aud at 7 p.m.

Fans are encouraged to bring new stuffed animals to toss on the ice after the first Rangers goal.

Captain Connor Bunnaman has sent the fur flying by scoring the Teddy Bear goal in each of the past two seasons.