The comeback kids were at it again last night at the Aud.
Kitchener rallied to tie Brampton and force a shootout and take the game 4-3.
Justin Bailey played the hero in the shootout and has been on a hot streak for the Rangers of late.
It doesn't get any easier tonight when Kitchener faces the Barrie Colts -- the second best team in the OHL and tops in the eastern conference at 29-13-0-2.
The Colts are without Kitchener native Mark Scheifele who has latched on with the Winnipeg Jets after a solid training camp. Scheifele has 49 points in 30 games this season in Barrie.
More to come later from the Molson Centre.
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Arrived in Barrie in one piece. A couple minor hockey league teams staying at the hotel and playing hockey in the hallway. Gotta love it.
The Winnipeg Jets-Ottawa Senators game is on in the media room. Weird seeing Scheifele on TV while sitting in his OHL home rink.
Anyway, on to the lines.
Kitchener:
Matt Puempel-Radek Faksa-Eric Ming
Ben Thomson-Tobias Rieder-Josh Leivo
Brent Pedersen-Josh Sterk-Derek Schoenmakers
Darby Llewellyn-Curtis Meighan-Matia Marcantuoni
Ben Fanelli-Frank Corrado
Ryan Murphy-Evan McEneny
Max Iafrate-Jared Gilbert
John Gibson (15-7-0-0) starts.
Barrie:
Anthony Camara-Zach Hall-Mitchell Theoret
Brendan Lemieux-Tyson Fawcett-Andreas Athanasiou
Steven Beyers-Erik Bradford-Josh MacDonald
Cody Brown-Dylan Corson-Justin Scott
Alex Lepkowski-Ryan O'Connor
Michael Webster-Aaron Ekblad
Jonathan Laser-Jake Dotchin
Mathias Niederberger (23-8-0-1) starts.
Puck points:
- Frank Palazzese's numbers since joining the Sudbury Wolves - 3-1 with a 1.69 goals against average and a .945 save percentage. Impressive.
- Justin Bailey is a not injured. He will miss the game due to an academic issue. He will return Sunday in Sudbury.
- Peering up the standings at London finds the Knights relinquishing 19 goals in the past four games. The club went 1-3 in that span.
- No mystery in the loss. The power play went 1-for-9 and had a full two man advantage but failed to convert.
- Kitchener is riding a 2-for-30 PP streak right now and has the league's second worst unit.
- Captain Ryan Murphy looked exhausted and was beaten to the puck routinely. That's usually isn't his MO. Coach Steve Spott said the blueliner was hanging on to the puck way too much on the power play. He wants to see more shots.
- The one PP goal was a thing of beauty - a tic-tac-toe passing play between Matt Puempel, Radek Faksa and Tobias Rieder. It was a glimpse of what could be.
- Speaking of Faksa, he left the game with a lower body injury. The team is waiting to find out the severity.
- The shot clock keeper in Barrie was brutal. Apparently shots that hit defencemen or the glass behind the net count. Who knew?
- Good ole Darby Llewellyn finding a way to get a point on limited minutes. It's what the rookie does best.
- Let's give Matia Marcantuoni some props. He bagged his first goal since Dec. 1. Goal aside, he played a strong game, despite being demoted to the fourth unit. Though, he did point out that playing with Llewellyn and Curtis Meighan isn't really a demotion. And he has a point since both are red hot.
- Not sure if the Colts got the memo, but methinks sending the mascot to walk the halls by the Rangers' dressing room after the team blew a two-goal lead by giving up five third period goals, may not be the brightest idea.
JB's top three Rangers: Tobias Rieder, Matia Marcantuoni, Darby Llewellyn