Four-Goal Third Period Lifts Rangers Past Storm

Two years ago, at the outset of the post-Memorial Cup-run rebuild, fans were advised to stay in their seats until the last ticks of the clock had run their course.

The Kitchener Rangers were young, but they had a flare for the dramatics, usually scoring in the last possible moments on unsuspecting opponents who thought they had their foot firmly on the throats of the blueshirt crew.

Flash forward to the present, specifically Sunday's 6-4 victory against arch-rival Guelph at the Sleeman Centre in front of 3,394, and you'll find a similar pattern emerging.

But these older and grizzled veterans have learned. They're starting to find the net earlier.

Slightly.

Just call them the third period throttle boys.

When those last 20 minutes are upon the boys in blue, they turn it up a notch.

A third-period four goal outburst on Sunday followed a third-period triple strike-delight versus Saginaw on Friday.

It seems when it matters most, the Rangers wake up just in time.

It didn't seem to matter that the Rangers were able to take a nap in the second frame, and Guelph's top trio of Peter Holland, Michael Latta and Taylor Beck combined for five points and helped pot three against starting goalkeeper Mike Morrison and the Rangers.

Beck, Latta, Holland and Cody McNaughton had the Storm up 4-2 after two.

But they were unable to keep pace with the Rangers' new favourite tradition featuring the third period feeding frenzy.

The Storm didn't help their cause by taking 10 minor infractions, with three in the Rangers' favourite frame.

Ryan Murphy arrived to his sophomore season by scoring twice in the final minutes, Matt Tipoff (pictured) added another and Tobias Rieder started it all off 3:24 into the final frame to together record four unanswered goals and leave the second-period-dominant Storm with some gaping jaws.

It's a dangerous game the Rangers are playing.

Teams in the Ontario Hockey League are not known for napping during games and still emerging with the W.

But the Rangers have managed to do it twice to open the campaign.

Coach Steve Spott will be looking for a complete 60-minute effort during practice this week if he wants the wins to rack up.

The afternoon affair lived up to its rivalry-renewed billing.

The Storm showed flashes of why they're considered to be a contender.

Their top line of Holland, Latta, and Beck can devastate opponents and may even be the best line in the league when each are hot.

But it was the Rangers' depth that wore down the star-heavy Storm.

Tipoff recorded two goals and a fight, Jamie Doornbosch notched his first as a Ranger, Murphy's two-goal outburst and Rieder's second goal in two games proved that the team down Highway 7 is more than just absentee-NHL busy stars; Jeremy Morin and Jeff Skinner.

Kitchener and Guelph will have many more chances to get re-acquanited, seven to be exact as the young season wears on.

Until then, the Rangers will need to devise a plan to stop the Storm's top three guns, as well as halt that annoying habit of sleeping on the job.

That third period throttle thing though... Spott may want to keep that new pattern intact.

Rangers' Morin Puts on a Show in Possible Curtain Call

Well, if it was to be Jeremy Morin's last game in a Kitchener Rangers uniform, the 19 year-old left-winger made sure he would leave an impression for the Aud faithful who may possibly be deprived of No. 61's dazzling display of dominance in an 8-3 rout of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL.

Morin's NHL-drafted team, the Chicago Blackhawks, could make Morin a Mo-show in Kitchener this year and place him with their AHL affiliate in Rockford. It all comes down to an NHL ruling which will clarify where players drafted outside the OHL, but signed with an OHL team, can play as a 19 year-old.

The fogginess surrounding Morin's immediate future didn't stop the Rangers' sniper from putting on a show however.

Morin (pictured) put on a tantalizing display of his lethal release and notched two goals and two assists in a game which featured the Rangers' marksman up to his old tricks. His snapshot that can rival possibly anyone's in the AHL, let alone the OHL was on frequent display, but the top forward also broke out a couple of dekes which left his opponents' defencemen and the crowd wondering what just happened.

The Rangers' top line, assuming Morin and top centreman Jeff Skinner are returned from NHL training camps showed just how destructive they can be in their first exhibition game. Morin, Skinner and Gabriel Landeskog combined for an astounding 10 points. The Rangers barely felt the absence of graduated forward Chris Mackinnon, or the press-box sit-outs of Jason Akeson and Michael Catenacci.

Mind you, the Huskies are a very young team, in a different league, who may have been fatigued by travel, but if the boys in blue wanted to prove themselves as favourites early on, they answered any doubters by playing a solid 60 minutes full of defensively responsible backchecking by the rookies (which shows coach Steve Spott's mantra getting through to the kids early on).

The Rangers exploded for four goals in the second period after being knotted at twos after the first, and the top trio of Morin, Skinner and Landeskog who barely saw any action in the third period gave way to the youngsters to strut their stuff.

And strut they did. Matia Marcantuoni, the Rangers' top draft pick over the summer notched his first goal in his Rangers-crested jersey by flying (the kid's got wheels) down the right wing and faking a shot before placing it neatly under the crossbar in the third.

Zach Lorentz, a local native, closed out the scoring and put the Huskies to rest with his redirected tip-in off 16 year-old Evan McEneny's point shot.

If the third frame was a forum for his rookies to entice, Spott and company has got to be pleased with what they saw. The high learning curve of the jump to the O seemed minimized with the talent and work ethic instilled in his young pups during training camp. Promises of a bright future seemed aplenty with solid contributions by McEneny, Lorentz, Marcantuoni and made the Rangers more than a one-trick pony.

Overager Matt Tipoff showed why he belongs on the club as one of three for the upcoming season with two goals of his own, and Landeskog and Skinner also scored for the Rangers.

Junior Harris recorded two and Taylor Lambke notched a single for the Huskies.

The Rangers' second exhibition game falls this Sunday when the Brampton Battalion roll into town.