Rangers Put Pressure On Defending Champs

The last time the Windsor Spitfires were down 0-2 in a series was the Memorial Cup Championship last year in Rimouski, Quebec.

This year, they find themselves in a similar hole after a 5-2 defeat in Kitchener Saturday night.

“The feeling is an awful lot like last year,” Spitfire coach Bob Boughner said.  “We’re all disappointed.  We’re doing some many good things in our game right now, we just can’t get the second or third goal.  We have a good core from last year with a ton of experience, and they know deep down that the series is far from over.”

With three games in four nights in this series, forward Adam Henrique felt that it’s good they’re getting back at it Sunday night.

“Obviously we’re really disappointed about tonight’s game,” he said.  “We’re heading back to Windsor now and then get back at it tomorrow.  We’re going to treat it like a do-or-die game and the guys are looking forward to it.”

To call it a shocker that the Rangers are up 2-0 would be an understatement.  No one, not even Kitchener fans, could have imagined that their team would be in this position heading into game three.

GM/Head Coach Steve Spott didn’t shy away, but wouldn’t attribute their success to luck.

“You have to get bounces,” he said.  “The [Andrew] Crescenzi goal was critical for us tonight.  Windsor tilted the ice in the third period and threw everything at us.  That goal gave us a lift, got the crowd back into it, and gave us a belief here with under 10 minutes to play in the third period.”

He also believes that his team has strayed away from the head games the Spitfires have been trying to play.

“It’s just staying smart and being mentally tough and not getting into a game that we don’t want to get into,” he said.  “I think in the first two games we’ve been able to stay away from that game.”

Rangers leading goal scorer in the regular season Jeff Skinner scored twice to up his total to 16 – also leading his team in the playoffs.

When asked if he felt the Rangers were out hustling the Spitfires, Skinner agreed.

“It’s a goal of ours to play that style of game and to keep short shifts,” he said.  “All of our lines are going right now and that’s been huge for us.”

One question that came out of game two was the status of Ranger forward Jeremy Morin.  He left the game in the third period with an apparent upper-body injury.

“He took a stinger in the third period,” Spott said.  “We thought it was better to keep him out, but he will play tomorrow night.”

Maxwell was outstanding for the Rangers stopping 51 of 53 shots.  His counterpart Phillip Grubauer stopped 33 of 38 shots in a losing effort.

Chris Mackinnon and Jason Akeson rounded out the scoring for the Rangers.  Henrique and Taylor Hall responded for the Spitfires.

Game three goes Sunday night in Windsor.