Rangers Nation launches 9,962 stuffed animals in 4-1 victory over rival Guelph Tuesday

Rangers Nation launches 9,962 stuffed animals in 4-1 victory over rival Guelph Tuesday

Kitchener, Ont. – Rangers' captain Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) scored just 4:17 into the game to send Rangers Nation to their feet launching 9,962 stuffed animals onto the ice for charity. The Rangers posted a commanding 4-1 victory in front of a season-high 6,644 fans at The Aud Tuesday. Kitchener has now won three of their last four games and are 4-1-0-0 against Guelph this season.

Pinelli got the ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ started after skating end-to-end from the Rangers’ zone up the left-wing wall and scoring from the middle of the left circle, off the far glove of Storm’ netminder Jacob Oster and into the net.

Guelph’s Michael Buchinger tied the game at 10:03 on an akward play in front of the Rangers’ net. On a defensive-zone pass between two Rangers, Guelph’s Buchinger slapped the puck off a Ranger defender’s stick and into the net past a surprised Marcus Vandenberg.

The game was tied 1-1 after the opening frame. Guelph led in shots 16-12.

Filip Mešár (Montreal Canadiens) scored the next two for the Rangers. First, on a Rangers’ rush into the Guelph zone, Mešár’s intended pass to Carson Rehkopf deflected off a Storm defenceman and redirected into the net at 17:10 of the middle period. Mešár added his second of the night just 31 seconds into the final period. From the left circle, Matthew Sop found Mešár backdoor who converted far-side past Oster to earn the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Then, Kitchener’s Adrian Misaljevic scored his first of the season at 2:18 of the third period. A shot from Jesse Fishman that missed the net was dug out by Joseph Serpa who found Misaljevic at the right side of the goal. Misaljevic scored farside to increase Kitchener’s lead to three goals.

Final shots favoured the Rangers 39-38. Kitchener was 0-for-2 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty-kill. Mešár was awarded the game’s first star, Pinelli earned second star honours and Vandenberg earned the game’s third star after making 38 saves on 39 shots.

Next Up: The Rangers hit the road to face-off against the Petes in Peterborough this Thursday. The East Avenue Blue return back to The Aud this Friday against the Niagara IceDogs at 7:30 p.m. Great seats are still available and can be purchased here.