The Burlington Cougars was within striking distance after one period, but the North York Rangers put the pedal down in the second en route to a 10-1 victory.
Matthew Whittaker had one goal and three assists to lead North York. Whittaker scored on the power play 19:51 into the first period to make the score 1-0 North York. The Rangers had gotten the advantage when Burlington’s Sean McLaren was sent off for hooking. Gabriel Valenzuela assisted on the tally.
North York was led by goalie Gianluca Baggetta, who finished with 29 saves while allowing one goal. Baggetta managed to improve on his goals against average, which stood at 3.14 prior to the game.
The Rangers forced the Cougars’ goaltenders to work between the pipes, taking 35 shots and forcing 25 saves. Cammeron Radford made 19 stops and Joe Noonan made six. North York stifled Burlington’s power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man. The Rangers outdid their season average for goals scored. North York has scored at the pace of 3.9 goals per game during the current campaign. The Rangers’ defensemen played an important role in the offense, chipping in two goals.
North York additionally got points from Austin Brown, who also tallied two goals and two assists, Ted Hunt, who also had two goals and one assist, Valenzuela, who also registered one goal and one assist, Michael Morgan, who also racked up one goal and two assists, and Ryan Takamatsu, who also registered one goal and one assist. Others who scored for North York included Luke Kutkevicius and Zack Fisher, who scored one goal each. In addition, North York received assists from Zachary Fung, who had four, Max Novick and Jake Harris, who contributed one each, and Jeremy Szabo and Will Reilly, who each chipped in two.
The Cougars forced their penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up nine minors and one major for 23 minutes in penalty time. Burlington surpassed its season average of 19.0 penalty minutes per game.
North York totaled 21 minutes in penalty time with three minors and one major and went 3-for-8 on the power play. For the Rangers, Brett Seldon was ejected from the game. The Cougars registered zero goals on six power play opportunities. Burlington ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Matt Holmes was ejected from the game.
