OHL Playoff Preview – Round 2: Rangers vs. Sting
Posted Apr 5, 2018 11:46:48 PM.
Last Updated Apr 6, 2018 12:15:09 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a match-up of two of the top ten teams in the Canadian Hockey League.
In the last CHL Top-10 Rankings, the Sarnia Sting were ranked fifth, the Kitchener Rangers tenth.
The two teams were second and third in the Western Conference standings, despite the Sting finishing with more points.
There will be familiarity. The Rangers played the Sting three times in their final nine games, with the home team winning each contest.
The Sting bolster a serious offence, scoring almost 300 goals on the season. They’re led by Jordan Kyrou, who is sure to get a steady diet of the Rangers’ shutdown line of Riley Damiani, Greg Meireles and Nick McHugh.
“It almost scares you he only had the one goal, and it was an empty-netter,” said Rangers head coach Jay McKee. “You know he’s going to have a breakout game at some point. He’s just that good of a player.”
Kyrou, who averaged 1.95 points per game in the regular season, only had two points in six games against the Windsor Spitfires in the first round.
“We’re going to have to break down what Windsor did to shut him down,” said McKee.
“I thought Windsor’s penalty-kill was very good against Sarnia, who had one of the best power plays in the league this year. We’re going to have to look at that and see what they did well, and see where we can expose them.”
REGULAR SEASON TEAM STATS
 Kitchener Rangers (2nd) |
 Sarnia Sting (3rd) |
|
| Record | 43-21-3-1 (90 pts) | 46-17-4-1 (97 pts) |
| Home Record | 22-11-1-0 (45 pts) | 25-8-1-0 (51 pts) |
| Road Record | 21-10-2-1 (45 pts) | 21-9-3-1 (46 pts) |
| GF | 246 (4th in West) | 299 (2ndin West) |
| GA | 218 (4th in West) | 213 (3rd in West) |
| PIM | 677 (5th in West) | 756 (1st in West) |
| PP % | 20.7% (10th) | 24.2% (5th) |
| PP% Home | 23.1% (8th) | 24.6% (5th) |
| PP% Road | 18.2% (13th) | 23.7% (5th) |
| PK % | 82.9% (3rd) | 88.5% (1st) |
| PK% Home | 79.5% (9th) | 93.8% (1st) |
| PK% Away | 85.9% (1st) | 84.3% (2nd) |
PLAYOFFS TOP SCORERS
| Kitchener Rangers (4-2) |
Sarnia Sting (4-2) |
| (C) Logan Brown: 2-11–13pts | (RW) Sean Josling: 3-6–9pts |
| (LW) Adam Mascherin: 4-7-11pts | (LW) Hugo Leufvenius: 5-3-8pts |
| (RW) Kole Sherwood: 7-3-10pts | (C) Ryan McGregor: 2-3-5pts |
| (C) Riley Damiani: 3-5-8pts | (C) Drake Rymsha: 2-3-5pts |
| (RW) Joseph Garreffa: 5-2-7pts | (LW) Jordan Ernst: 2-2-4pts |
PLAYOFFS GOALIE STATS
| Kitchener Rangers |
GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | GAA | SV% | GA | SO |
| Mario Culina | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.08 | .908 | 17 | 0 |
| Luke Richardson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.19 | .833 | 1 | 0 |
| Sarnia Sting |
GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | GAA | SV% | GA | SO |
| Justin Fazio | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | ,881 | 16 | 0 |
REGULAR SEASON MEETINGS:
Sep 23: Kit 3 @ 1 Sar – A.D.B is A-OK in Rangers first win
Feb 27: Sar 3 @ 6 Kit – Rangers’ Damiani trusted to control Kyrou
Mar 6: Sar 2 @ 5 Kit – The Kitchener Rangers are Midwest Division Champions, and they did it their way
Jan 21: Kit 3 @ 4 Sar (SO) – Rangers drop final road game in shootout with Sting
ROUND 2 GAME TIMES:
Friday, April 6 at Kitchener – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 8 at Kitchener – 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 10 at Sarnia – 7:05 p.m.
Thursday, April 12 at Sarnia – 7:05 p.m.
*Friday, April 13 at Kitchener – 7:30 p.m.
*Sunday, April 15 at Sarnia – 5:00 p.m.
*Tuesday, April 17 at Kitchener – 7:00 p.m.
*If necessary
