The Rangers hit town last night, so they should be well rested for tonight's game.
No matter what, the teams are coming back to the Aud Sunday.
I had some fun this week talking to players about chirping. I noticed an increase in on-ice conversation during the post-season and, sure enough, the players confirmed it's on the rise.
Unfortunately, the best chirps weren't suitable to be printed in the paper. But you can get the gist of the talking part of the game here.
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One change on the line combos for the Rangers as forward Brandon Lesway moves up to play with Andrew Crescenzi and Brent Pedersen. Keli Grant drops down.
Thomson-Catenacci-Rieder
Lorentz-Faksa-Ming
Pedersen-Crescenzi-Lesway
Sterk-Meighan-Grant
Sol-Murphy
Fanelli-Iafrate
Genovese-Young
Gibson
Whalers:
Miller-Rakell-Wilson
Mistele-Heard-Aleardi
Devane-Bathgate-Payne
Vanderwiel-Whaley
Levi-Trutmann
Crombeen-Schmitz
Malysa-C. MacDonald
D. MacDonald
Wedgewood
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Puck points:
- The back and forth series contiues. Now it's Kitchener's turn to shine. It's a must win for the Rangers Sunday at the Aud.
- Loved Josh Sterk's energy tonight. He was pressed into more ice-time when Andrew Crescenzi went down with an injury. Sterk, a pint sized forward, delivered a few nice hits as well.
- Crescenzi is listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury. He played the first period, tried to play the second, but ultimately left for the rest of the game.
- The Whalers paid extra attention to Radek Faksa after his breakthrough performance in Game 4.
- Two fan buses made the trek to the Compuware Arena and it looked like there were more Rangers jerseys than hometown sweaters in the crowd. Now, if they could just make some noise.
- Goalie Scott Wedgewood looked good for Plymouth, but John Gibson was unreal. Plymouth staffers in the pressbox were jumping out of their seats at times when he made saves.
JB's top three Rangers: John Gibson, Josh Sterk, Ben Fanelli
