Rangers lethargic against Generals

By Chris Pope

It might have been the most dejected Jay McKee has been post-game all year.

“It’s a huge letdown,” said the Kitchener Rangers head coach.

The Oshawa Generals scored three unanswered goals and squashed the Rangers 3-2 Friday night at the Aud in a slow and sloppy game.

Jonanthan Yantsis’ fifth goal of the season in the first, and captain Connor Bunnaman’s fourth in four games gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

The loss was Kitchener’s first of the season when they’ve led after the first period.

It was much different from Tuesday’s excellent win against the Sarnia Sting.

“It was an emotional game,” said McKee of Tuesday’s win. “We touched on that, and we touched on that type of game being our standard, and it certainly wasn’t tonight, so it’s a big disappointment.”

Some may believe it would be tough to play an Eastern Conference foe after such a high earlier in the week; a game that may not have as much impact on the standings. Not McKee.

“I’d like to think if these players want to be pros, there should be internal motivation,” he said post-game. “Regardless of where you are in the standings, if you can’t internally motivate yourself for games that don’t have a significance standings wise, you might not be a pro.”

The lone player on the Rangers that has played professional in the NHL, Logan Brown (four games with the Ottawa Senators) didn’t play a shift in the first period.

“We’ve had some issues with guys showing up late to practice, and even late to games. It’s not just Logan Brown,” explained McKee. “I have a lot of good things to say about [him] — as a person, as a player, the way he prepares, he’s like a pro. He didn’t show up on time this morning, so he missed the first period. It’s unfortunate.”

To Brown’s credit, he owned it: “I obviously messed up, and I paid the consequence.”

“It’s keeping guys accountable and that’s what we need. He definitely sent a message today and guys took note of it.”

The Rangers are in Guelph Sunday to face the Storm. The game time has been changed to 2 p.m., with pre-game on 570 NEWS starting at 1:30 p.m.

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