Rangers tie it up
Victory puts series with Greyhounds at 2-2
KITCHENER — The Kitchener Rangers are back on even footing.
The Blueshirts bested the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 7-4 Wednesday night at the Aud and now sit tied 2-2 in their bestof-seven Ontario Hockey League Western Conference final.
“Our guys played hard,” said Rangers head coach Jay McKee. “We just keep telling our guys that we believe in what they can do and they need to believe in themselves and compete, play hard and be tenacious.”
Kitchener was expecting a fired up Soo squad after the Canadian Hockey League’s top-rated team lost 3-0 at the Aud Monday.
But it was the Rangers that came out firing.
Logan Brown broke his series goose egg by potting his first on Soo goalie Matthew Villalta on the power play at 4:19 of the first period. The marker sparked the home side, who rallied for three more before the intermission.
Greg Meireles jammed in his third of the post-season 38 seconds after Brown. Adam Mascherin converted a Brown pass midway through the frame. And Givani Smith powered his way to the net to bury his ninth.
The barrage meant an early night for Villalta, who allowed four goals on 15 shots. Backup Tyler Johnson took over with about five minutes to go in the opening frame.
Kole Sherwood cashed in on a breakaway while Smith added his second of the match in the second period to put the game away.
The Soo’s Taylor Raddysh ended Kitchener goalie Mario Culina’s shutout streak at 1:10 minutes and 40 seconds when the puck went off his skate and in with seven seconds left in the second period.
The Greyhounds gave the home crowd a pause with third period tallies — two from Keeghan Howdeshell and one from captain Tim Gettinger — but it was brief. Rickard Hugg also scored for the Rangers while defenceman Joseph Garreffa had four assists.
The victory was Kitchener’s second straight over the Soo and that is unique as the ’Hounds have only dropped back-toback affairs three other times this entire season.
And the timing couldn’t be better. The Rangers lost the first two games of the series up north at the Essar Centre but
suddenly find themselves right back in it.
Just as important is seeing the team’s big guns in sync. Smith, Sherwood and Brown had combined for 20 goals in the first two rounds of the playoffs but had just a pair heading into Wednesday’s tilt.
“This game is all about confidence,” said McKee. “When your top goal scorers go a couple of games and they’re not really
generating the chances that they would in the regular season they start to wonder how to score again.”
The Rangers sure didn’t have that problem Wednesday.
Game 5 runs Friday in the Soo.