On Wednesday night, the Kitchener Rangers and London Knights squared off in front of a packed Canada Life Place.
It was the first time these two rivals had matched up since doing business with one another, executing a blockbuster deal that sent former Knights captain and Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Sam O’Reilly and Los Angeles Kings prospect Jared Woolley to the Rangers in exchange for Jacob Xu and 10 draft picks.
It was a highly anticipated matchup that did not disappoint, going to overtime to decide the winner. The Rangers walked out on top thanks to a game-winning goal (GWG) from the former Knights captain, securing a 4-3 victory, which extends their point streak to 13 games.
Sam O’Reilly Continues to Come Up Clutch
Since being traded to the Rangers, O’Reilly has played 11 games, where he has scored six goals, with four of them being game winners.
He has already scored two more game winners for the Rangers this season than he did in his 28 games for the Knights. These four GWGs are only one less than O’Reilly scored in 62 games last season. They are also 30% of his career game winners, which he has scored over a stretch accounting for six percent of his career in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
While game winners aren’t always the most impactful, such as the one O’Reilly was credited with against the Sarnia Sting, when he scored in the first period while already up one goal, the Rangers ended up winning 4-1.
However, the other three have been true GWGs. This was his second overtime winner, with the other coming against the Erie Otters, and the third GWG came with two minutes left to play, breaking a tie against the Guelph Storm.
A remarkable run of clutch goal scoring.
Jack Pridham & Dylan Edwards: The Duo That Keeps Producing
Jack Pridham has been one of the Rangers’ top offensive weapons all season. However, he did not catch fire until they acquired Dylan Edwards from the Otters.
Since the acquisition, the two, for the most part, have been playing on the same line and have become a dynamic duo that very few have figured out how to shut down.
In 17 games with the Rangers, he has 11 goals and 20 points, which include a goal and an assist against the Knights on Wednesday night. This was Edwards’ eighth multi-point game with the Rangers.
Combine that with Pridham on an 11-game point streak and 14 goals and 29 points since the Rangers traded for Edwards, which helped earn him the OHL’s forward of the month honours for January.
The two have been a great combination. Not only have they built great chemistry on the ice quickly, but with both being elite goal scorers, it has given each more room to operate and find success.
Before the Edwards trade, Pridham was the sole goal-scoring threat teams could focus on when his line was on the ice, and a similar story would have probably been true with Edwards playing with a weaker Otters team before coming to Kitchener.
Now, playing together, teams can’t pick one to focus on, or the other will burn you. Especially considering the third guy on the line is either O’Reilly, one of the best all-around players in the league, or Christian Humphreys, one of the best playmakers in the league.
This is a pair I would be shocked to see split up for long stretches, regardless of who is playing the middle with how much they continue to produce.
Rangers’ Composure is Standing Out in Various Ways
Last week was filled with highly emotional games. Sarnia Sting’s overage forward, Ben Pickell, getting into an altercation with Jason Schaubel, led the Rangers to physically dominate the Sting in a 4-1 victory.
The Rangers then went on the road and lost to the Owen Sound Attack in overtime after an effort in which they certainly did not deserve to lose, nearly doubling the Attack’s shots on goal for the game.
However, the Rangers came back in their next game, bounced right back in another emotional contest, sparked by Ethan Belchetz’s slashing Christian Kirsch early in the game and the altercation that followed.
Ultimately, they beat the Windsor Spitfires 7-2, which showed a lot of maturity from this team: not getting stuck on the unfortunate result of the game before and carrying over the momentum, knowing they dominated and deserved to win.
The other piece to these games was the Rangers’ staying composed and not getting sucked into post-whistle antics that the Sting and Spitfires were trying to draw them into. In these two games, the Rangers came out plus-7 in power-play opportunities.
Then, Wednesday night against the Knights, we saw the Rangers jump out to a 3-1 lead. However, that collapsed in the third, giving up two goals within 35 seconds of one another. But, they didn’t let it snowball; they held off the late Knights’ push and secured the win in overtime.
Related: Kitchener Rangers’ All-In Approach Fueling Recent Hot Streak
This team is playing with a ton of confidence, knowing they won’t lose many games if they don’t beat themselves. They’re showing all the signs you want to see in a team looking to make a run to the Memorial Cup.
We will see if they can stay hot on Friday night at home in another rivalry matchup against the Storm.
