The Kitchener Rangers will face the Windsor Spitfires in the first round of the OHL playoffs after suffering a pair of losses over the weekend.
On Sunday night, the Rangers closed out the season with a visit to London where they were thumped by the Knights by a score of 5-1.
Reid Valade was the lone goalscorer for Kitchener, as the team finished in eighth place in the Western Conference.
Five different Knights found the back of the net including Easton Cowan, George Diaco, Logan Mailloux, Landon Sim and Denver Barkley.
Brett Brochu turned aside 18 shots to record the win for London, as they finished second in the Eastern Conference.
Things were much busier at the other end of the rink as Marcus Vandenberg stopped 31 of 26 shots he faced in picking up the loss for the Rangers.
There were high hopes of moving up the standings heading into the weekend when the Rangers hosted the Flint Firebirds at the Aud on Friday night.
With three minutes to play, the team held a three-goal advantage but the wheels fell off the bus from there.
Amadeus Lombardi, Ethan Hay and Riley Piercey all beat Rangers netminder Marco Constantini over the closing minutes before Gavin Hayes scored in overtime to hand Kitchener the loss. For Lombardi and Piercey, it was their second marker of the evening.
Francesco Arcuri, Adrian Misaljevic, Carson Rehkopf Cameron Mercer and Danny Zhilkin all scored for Kitchener but it was Constantini who truly shone on Friday night.
The Rangers goaltender faced an astonishing 52 shots over the course of just over 61 minutes of play.
At the other end, Firebirds netminder Nathan Day was also busy as he faced 38 shots, stopping 33 in a winning effort.
The Firebirds finished fifth in the Western Conference and will face Michigan rivals, the Saginaw Spirit, in Round 1.
Kitchener will open things up in their series with the Spitfires on Thursday and Saturday in Windsor before returning home next Tuesday and Thursday.
Comments