Reece Doumani
@reecedoumani
It was do or die night on Wednesday at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium as the Rangers looked to avoid the sweep against the Windsor Spitfires.
The first period wouldn’t see a ton of chances as the teams combined for only 11 shots on goal. Each team did get an opportunity on the power play in the opening period, but goaltenders Jackson Parsons and Joey Costanzo get the door shut and sent the game into the first intermission scoreless.
Early in the second, the Rangers would open the scoring as Luke Ellinas broke the ice at the 1:54 mark. Jakub Chromiak and Matthew Andonovski collected the assists on Ellinas’ second goal of the playoffs. Ellinas would find the back of the net again a few minutes past the midway mark of the period. Luca Romano got the only helper on the second goal. Rangers would take their two-goal lead into the second intermission. Kitchener outshot Windsor through 40 minutes by a mark of 21-15.
In the third, the Rangers were looking to lock things down defensively and get to Game 5 back in Windsor. The Spits however, were looking to mount a comeback and end things in 4. However, the Spitfires were in penalty trouble throughout the 3rd period as they took three minor penalties, including two by Ryan Abraham, both for goaltender interference for running into Parsons.
The Spitfires were able to kill off every penalty but they were unable to gain any momentum as the Rangers would add in empty netter to seal it late. It would Luke Ellinas’ third of the game, completing the hat trick. Final shots favoured the Rangers 35-24.
Jackson Parsons collects the shutout, stopping all 24 Windsor shots. Joey Costanzo suffers loss as he made 32 saves on 34 shots.
These two team will head back down to Windsor for Game 5 at the WFCU Centre on Friday night with the Spitfires looking to close out the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals once again.
