Pinelli proves pivotal for Kitchener getting back into second-round series

Francesco Pinelli made a statement.

It was a 1995 quote from Michael Jordan that best resembles the Kitchener Rangers’ captain play in Game 3 against the London Knights: “I’m back.”

“He was a big difference maker in the game. You could see right from the drop of the puck,” said Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie.

“He played possessed. You could see it in his eyes. He came to play tonight. We needed that. He gave us a huge boost. That’s what a Captain and leader of a team needs to do. He was unbelievable.”

After serving a three-game suspension, and missing the opening two games of the series, Pinelli opened the scoring at The Aud with his third short-handed goal of the playoffs.

He added another, and the Rangers routed the London Knights 6-1.

“Sitting out for two games isn’t ideal and kind of sucks,” said Pinelli. “We got the win, which was very special, and we’re going to keep going from here.”

The score really isn’t indicative of the game. The Rangers only led 2-1 heading into the third period.

“It was probably a lot closer to how we played against Windsor,” said McKenzie. “It was good to see us rebound after two hard losses.”

Kitchener-kid Matt Sop had three assists, while Francesco Arcuri, Danny Zhilkin, Mitchell Martin and Roman Schmidt all had multi-points nights, with the latter earning his first OHL playoff goal.

Much of the talk coming into Game 3 was about power-plays, with McKenzie being fined $5,000 before the game by the Ontario Hockey League for his post-game comments after Game 2.

Sunday afternoon, Kitchener went 1-for-6 on the power-play and the Knights were 0-for-4.

“That’s stuff for us (…) media and fans, and stuff like that,” said McKenzie. “[The players] don’t need to be involved in all that. That’s the message; just go out and play, and play hard.”

Ty Hollett scored in the final minute of the game, which means free chicken nuggets for any ticket holder to the game.

He celebrated – with the fans – on the way to the bench doing, let’s call it the “double chicken wing flap?”, and was given a 10-minute misconduct. He’ll still be available for Game 4.

That’s Tuesday night, when the Rangers can pull even with the Knights.

The pregame show begins at 6:35 p.m. on CityNews Kitchener, with puck-drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m.