The North York Rangers completed the upset of the Toronto Junior Canadiens in the first round of the OJHL playoffs winning Game 5 5-2 on Friday night.
Coming off a 6-1 thrashing in Game 4 on home ice, the Rangers made sure to fix a couple areas heading into this contest. One of the biggest problems has been the power play. The Rangers were 1 of 16 in the first four games of the series. They made to snap that streak midway through the first.
Adam Panacci tipped in Victor Polowy’s point shot in slot to open the scoring at 13:41. The Canadiens responded quickly on the powerplay as well. Klim Georgiev’s point shot bounced right to Johnny on the spot, Ryan Tverberg in front for the easy tap in at 15:25 to even up the score at 1-1.
Then it became the Myles Perry show. The rookie forward gave the Rangers the lead after tipping in a rebound beside the net at 17:03 into the first. He was at it again just before the end of the frame. Perry tipped in Victor Polowy’s point shot on the powerplay with only 20 seconds left to hand North York the 3-1 advantage heading into the first intermission.
The Rangers were outshot 14-7 in the second, but were able to score the lone marker on the power play .again. Aydin Parekh shipped one by Toronto’s goalie Tanner Sheppard at 18:49 into the second. The Rangers were up 4-1 after two periods.
Toronto pushed back in the third in a big way outshooting North York 15-2 in the final frame. Unfortunately, Connor Lepage was the only player to find the back of the net at 2:14. While one of the Rangers two shots was Perry’s hat-trick goal into an empty net.
Rangers rookie goalie James Gray was outstanding in Game 5. He made 37 saves to improve his playoff record to 3-0.
North York will have a little time off before they battle the St. Michael’s Buzzers in the second round of the OJHL Buckland Cup.
