So the injury woes continue.
No Radek Faksa for 4-6 weeks and no John Gibson for the short term. Two huge losses for sure.
It just means others will have to step up in the meantime. At least Faksa is slated to be ready for the playoffs.
Some massive wins last night in the OHL. Conference rivals the London Knights put up 11 against Ottawa while Plymouth beat Windsor 8-2. Kitchener has only scored more than five goals twice this season.
The Otters come into town on a cold streak, going 3-4-1-2 in their last 10 games.
***
Kitchener:
Matt Puempel-Tobias Rieder-Josh Leivo
Darby Llewellyn-Matia Marcantuoni-Derek Schoenmakers
Ben Thomson-Curtis Meighan-Eric Ming
Brent Pedersen-Josh Sterk-Justin Bailey
Ben Fanelli-Frank Corrado
Evan McEneny-Ryan Murphy
Jared Gilbert-Max Iafrate
Joel Vienneau (18-12-2-5) starts.
Erie:
Dane Fox-Connor McDav id-Connor Brown
Connor Crisp-J.P. Labardo-Joel Wigle
Jake Evans-Stephen Harper-Nick Betz
Kyle Pettit-Luke Cairns-Hayden Hodgson
Spencer Abraham-Jack Kuzmyk
Artem Kuleshov-Troy Donnay
Travis Wood-Jimmy McDowell
Devin Williams (7-9-1-2) starts.
***
Puck points:
- Tonight's second unit could be the longest combined last names in Rangers' history - 31 letters altogether.
- No more white goalie mask for Joel Vienneau. The new netminder has it full of Rangers' colours now.
- The hot hands are staying warm. Ryan Murphy has five points in his past two games. Tobias Rieder has goals in five consecutive games. And Matia Marcantuoni has three points in his past four games.
- For those keeping track, Joel Vienneau's numbers since he arrived are actually better than Franky Palazzese's stats in Sudbury. JV: 4-0-0-1, 2.33 GAA, .926 save percentage. FP 3-1-2-1, 2.59 GAA, .924 %
- Erie looked flat and for good reason. The team was playing its fifth game in eight days.
- The Rangers are 6-1-0-1 since the big trade with Sudbury.
- Ben Thomson was promoted to the second unit by the game's end and Darby Llewellyn went down to the third line.
- An encouraging trend -- Kitchener's best players are playing like it and producing.
- With three games in three days and Gibson ailing, will we see the season debut of Jack Moylan in net tomorrow in Erie?
JB's top three Rangers: Ryan Murphy, Joel Vienneau, Eric Ming
