Extra work pays off in OT for Kitchener’s Bottineau
Justin Bottineau has put in the time.
Stick around after practice and you’ll often find the 18-year-old Kitchener Rangers forward staying behind to work on his shot at the Aud.
“Your shot can never be good enough,” he said. “The more you practise it and the more repetition you have, the better it will get.”
The extra work paid off Tuesday night at the Erie Insurance Arena.
Bottineau not only tied Game 3 against the Erie Otters in the third period but went on to pot the winner 7:57 into overtime.
The 4-3 come-from-behind win gives the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the Ontario Hockey League western conference best-of-seven quarterfinal.
Bottineau called the deciding marker the biggest goal of his young career.
“It was definitely special for me,” he said. “But I would have been happy if it was anyone else. I’m just happy we got the win.”
It didn’t look good for the visitors early on.
Tuesday’s tilt was the first playoff game in Erie in seven years and the faithful — some 4,000 strong — gave the home side a vocal boost.
The game also marked the return of stud goalie Benjamin Gaudreau, who missed the past 28 games with a high ankle sprain. The San Jose Sharks draft pick was acquired via trade this past October to stabilize the crease for the young Otters’ squad.
Erie used all that momentum to blitz the Rangers and had a 3-0 lead early in the second period.
“We weren’t first to the puck or winning battles,” said Kitchener head coach Jussi Ahokas. “We weren’t ready to play hard playoff hockey.”
Things changed after a frank chat during the first intermission.
“We just had a talk and calmed down,” said Rangers winger Antonino Pugliese. “We believe in each other. We fought back.”
The first spark came from Adrian Misaljevic, who cut into the lead with his first goal in 16 games.
Then Ahokas shortened his bench, did some tinkering and struck gold with a newly formed third line of Bottineau, Pugliese and rookie centre Luca Romano.
The trio took over the game and scored the next three goals. The winner saw Pugliese steal the puck on the forecheck and pass to Bottineau, who wired it past Gaudreau before being mauled by teammates at centre ice.
A dejected Otters squad — who outshot the Rangers 24-5 in the third period and overtime — looked on in disbelief.
“In overtime you only need one shot,” said Ahokas. “It’s a huge win for us. We battled through adversity.”
Sam Alfano, Kaleb Smith and Dylan Edwards scored for the Otters.
Kitchener keeper Jackson Parsons made 40 saves and was named the third star of the affair.
The first star went to Bottineau. “We knew it was going to be tough to battle back being down 3-0,” Bottineau said. “But doing it gives us confidence … and reminds us of how good we can be. We’re super pumped we got the win, but we have to flip the switch and start preparing for the next game.”
Game 4 goes Thursday at 7 p.m. in Erie.