On Tuesday night, in front of a rocking crowd at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, the home team gave their fans an exhilarating victory over the best team in the OHL.
Kitchener Rangers versus the London Knights is one of the best rivalries in junior hockey.
This was their third matchup of the season. The Knights took the first two meetings by close scores of 3-1 and 3-2, highlighting how evenly matched these two teams are.
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Ottawa Senators defense prospect and captain of the Kitchener Rangers, Matthew Andonovski, took an undisciplined and needless roughing penalty less than two minutes into the game.
The captain made up for it later in the period, as he blasted a one-timer home after Chicago Blackhawks prospect Jack Pridham wheeled with the puck behind the London net and found him sliding down into the slot.
Before Andonovski’s goal, Kitchener’s goaltender Jackson Parsons made the save of the night, stretching out post-to-post to absolutely rob Knights forward Evan Van Gorp.
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As the second period got underway, Andonovksi again less than two minutes into the period headed to the box on a high-sticking penalty.
However, the Rangers were able to take advantage of a puck that slipped by Sam Dickinson’s stick up at the point, springing the penalty killers Chris Grisolia and Cameron Mercer on a 2-on-1.
Grisolia perfectly saucers the puck over Dickinson’s stick and Mercer powders his one-timer home to give the home team a 2-0 lead with his sixth goal of the season.
The Knights would respond later in the frame.
Easton Cowan patrolled around the offensive zone while being serenaded by boos from the Kitchener faithful, and threw a pass toward the middle of the ice, which took a bounce and found the stick of Jared Woolley.
The LA Kings prospect took a shot that Parsons initially stopped, but Landon Sim deposited the rebound for his 18th of the season. Sim now has goals in four straight games with five in that time frame.
With a secondary assist on the goal, Cowan extends his regular season point streak to 61 games.
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London equalized the game a few minutes later.
Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Julien saw the beautiful pass Grisolia made earlier in the game and wanted to do one better. He sauced the puck over the defender’s stick to a wide-open Blake Montgomery sitting backdoor, who made no mistake elevating the puck over Parsons to tie the game.
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The Ottawa Senators prospect Montgomery extends his point streak to 13 games. He has 12 goals and 11 assists during this incredible stretch of play.
The Rangers quickly zapped London’s momentum with a late powerplay tally before the end of the second period, thanks to a Jack Pridham one-timer.
Tanner Lam, the No. 175 ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting in their midseason rankings, stole the puck from Andoni Fimis behind the net. He then set up his teammate, Jack LaBrash, whose shot was initially stopped by goaltender Aleksei Medvedev.
However, the puck trickled under Medvedev’s leg, allowing Lam to quickly capitalize and score, giving Kitchener their second two-goal lead of the game.
Vegas Golden Knights prospect Trent Swick, while on the penalty kill, fired the puck into the empty net to seal the deal, as Kitchener took down the powerhouse London Knights 5-2, and moved within three points of them in the standings.
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The Rangers were led by their star netminder Jackson Parsons, who stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced for his league-leading 26th win.
The Clarkson University commit has been nothing short of spectacular and a model of consistency for his Rangers team this season. For goaltenders with a minimum of 20 games played, he leads the league in goals-against average (2.16), and save percentage (.923%), and has recorded the most shutouts with four.
NHL prospects Jack Pridham and Trent Swick both contributed with two-point efforts.
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