Match-up preview: Rangers vs Spitfires
The reigning - and back-to-back - Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires visit The Aud tonight for the second time this season. The Rangers defeated the Spits the last time these two clubs met in December, led by right-winger Jason Akeson who tallied three assists in the 3-1 win.
Both Kitchener and Windsor were without some of their key players in that late December game, due to the IIHF World Championships. Both team captains - the Spitfires' Ryan Ellis and the Rangers' Gabriel Landeskog - were absent, in addition to Windsor's Zack Kassian, Jack Campbell and Tom Kuhnhackl, as well as Kitchener’s Tobias Rieder.
Ellis and Kassian were members of Team Canada's silver medal squad, while Landeskog
Right-winger Kassian is currently the out Spitfires' leading scorer with 57 points in 33 games. Ellis is leading all Windsor Junior defencemen in goals (15), assists (38), points (53), and plus-minus rating (+11).
Windsor rookie Alexander Khokhlacher is one of three Russian-born players leading the league in rookie scoring. With 55 points in 44 games, he is also one of seven Europeans represented among the top 10. Kitchener's Rieder is among those top 10 players as well, with 37 points in 41 games.
Looking back at the Spitfires and Rangers last meeting, Tyler Randell, Ryan Murphy, and Cody Sol were responsible for Kitchener's goal scoring. Windsor's lone goal came from assistant captain Stephen Johnston.
Since then, and just prior to the OHL trade deadline, the Spitfires loaded up with the addition of six new players to their line-up. Forwards Jeff Brown, Jake Carrick, Taylor Carnevale and Kerby Rychel, defenceman Adrian Robertson, and goaltender John Cullen are all new members of the revamped Spitfires squad that has earned 12 of 14 possible points in their ast seven games.
The Rangers also fell to the Attack - their Midwest Division rivals - in their most recent game on Wednesday. Murphy, Randell, Jamie Doornbosch, and Michael Catenacci each had multi-point games in the loss.
Prior to loss, the Rangers were on a three-game winning streak. The blueshirts will be looking for four points as they complete their home-and-home series with the Spitfires Sunday afternoon in Windsor with a 2 p.m. matinee.
