By Jamie Neugebauer, Staff Writer
The Rangers out-shot and out-chanced the Raiders but could not find a way past goaltender Daniel Mannella as North York fell to Georgetown 3-0 at the Herb Carnegie Arena on Sunday.
Two second-period goals were the hosts’ undoing on the day, and the Rangers were shutout for the first time this season.
Despite the result, North York’s coaching staff was happy with the effort.
“We weren’t happy with our work ethic last night [against Mississauga],” said assistant coach Matt Johnston.
“Today we definitely stepped it up a notch. I thought we out-chanced them, but they capitalized on two of their scoring opportunities, and we just had a difficult time finding the back of the net.”
Overaged defenceman C.J. Stellato opened the scoring 44 seconds into the second period when he was found alone in front of Rangers net-minder Avery Allen after a bad bounce handcuffed the North York defence.
Anthony Marra made it two at 10:15 when a Liam Clare point shot on the power play bounced off of a skate in front, and then ricocheted off of him into the net behind a helpless Allen.
Georgetown’s rookie goaltender Daniel Mannella made 38 saves for his first career shutout in junior hockey.
In spite of the loss, the Rangers defensive-zone play has been steadily improving to a point where the opposition needs to rely on the bad bounces to score.
“I think overall we have minimized the chances off the rush,” Johnston continued.
“We are definitely doing a better job of identifying that third forward coming into our d-zone.”
Nick Perruccio added an empty netter to seal the win for Georgetown.
Notes: Avery Allen made 25 saves in the game … the Rangers will now travel to Buffalo on Oct. 3 when they will take on the Jr. Sabres … their next home game is Oct. 7 against the same Sabres
