The Kitchener Rangers pulled off a 5-3 upset victory in the opening game of their seven-game playoff series with the top-seeded Windsor Spitfires on Thursday night.
The Rangers grabbed the lead in Windsor pretty quickly as Reid Valade scored the first goal just 40 seconds into the game.
Adrian Misaljevic doubled Kitchener’s lead at the 9:03 mark but just over five minutes later the Spitfires answered with a goal from Brett Harrison.
The score would remain that way until midway through the second period when Rangers captain Francesco Pinelli would restore Kitchener’s two-goal advantage.
A couple of minutes later, Shane Wright would respond for Windsor but that would be as close as the Spitfires would get.
Trent Swick put Kitchener’s lead back to two within 90 seconds which proved to be the game-winner.
Late in the third period, Valade would score his second of the game on an empty net before Spitfires defenceman Anthony Cristoforo would finish out the scoring with 23 seconds remaining.
The two teams will square off again on Saturday night before the scene shifts to Kitchener on Tuesday for Game 3.
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