Daniil Kuzmin scored two goals in his debut, to help the North York Rangers edge the Pickering Panthers 4-1 at the Hebert H. Carnegie Centre on Sunday (Nov. 25) afternoon. The team snapped a four –game losing streak in the process.
The road team struck first late in the first. Eljah Pilosof hit Riley Girard and he went around Eli Shiller for the opening goal at 15:29. Pickering led 1-0 after the first period.
With less than 10 seconds to go in the second, Aidan Casey pumped in on the left hand side. Daniil Kuzmin, who was making his debut for the Rangers, snipped top corner with only 0.4 seconds left.
North York built on that late marker the rest of the way. Grayden Gottschalk out fought a pair of Panthers, before hitting Ross Krieger in front for the one timer only 74 seconds into the third. Krieger registered his team-high 14th goal and 27 point on the play. Gottschalk joined in on the action. Just before the midway point of the period, on the powerplay, the captain tipped in Fedor Rudakov’s pass through the legs of Pickering’s goalie Blair Coffin. Kuzmin put the contest away. Casey’s shot hit went directly off Coffin’s pad to the stick of the Russian and he shelved it at 12:56.
Eli Shiller made 26 saves to pick up his second victory of the second.
The Rangers are back in action on Wednesday, when they host the Toronto Jr. Canadiens (15-11-0-2). Toronto currently sits second in the division, 11 points back of North York. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at the Hebert H. Carnegie Centre.
