Albert Michnac scores in overtime to give Spirit 4-3 OT victory over Kitchener

 

The Saginaw Spirit (3-2-1-0) picked up its second straight road victory when over-age Saginaw forward Albert Michnac (4) scored the game winning goal at 3:19 of overtime on a feed from Cole Coskey to give the Spirit a 4-3 OT victory, handing the Kitchener Rangers (3-0-1-0) its first loss of the season in front of 6,512 at the historic Kitchener Auditorium in Kitchener, ON tonight.

 

Kitchener knotted the game midway through the final period following a questionable Spirit holding penalty, which led to a game-tying power play goal from Rangers forward Riley Damiani (2) with assists coming from Jack York and Joseph Garreffa to tie the game at 3-goals apiece at 11:06 of the third period.

 

Saginaw had jumped out to an early lead when defensemen Hayden Davis and Bode Wilde went D to D, before Spirit rookie Cole Perfetti (4) redirected Davis' shot from the point, beating Kitchener goal tender Luke Richardson with Perfetti's fourth tally of the season to give Saginaw a 1-0 lead at 8:02 of the first period. 

 

The Rangers responded toward the end of the opening frame when Kitchener RW Jonathan Yantsis (4) scored his fourth goal of the season with assists coming from Nick McHugh and Kyle Gentles at 17:36 of the first period, sending the two teams into the first intermission knotted at 1-goal apiece.

 

Saginaw would take advantage of a Rangers penalty midway through the second when Wilde (2) converted the power play for his second goal of the season with assists coming from Blade Jenkins and Coskey to give the Spirit a 2-1 lead at 12:39 of the second period, before Coskey (4) extended the Saginaw lead early in the final frame with his fourth goal of the season from Brady Gilmour, opening up a 3-1 Spirit lead at 6:12 of the third period. 

 

Kitchener responded when Garreffa (3) scored his third of the season with assists coming from Reid Valade and Gentles to cut the Spirit lead to 3-2 at 8:17 of the third period, prior to Damiani's game-tying goal later in the final period. 

 

Richardson stopped 39 of the 43 shots he saw in net for the Rangers, while Spirit goal tender Cam Lamour turned away 29 of the 32 shots he faced in between the pipes for Saginaw. 

 

The Spirit will wrap up this road trip with a visit to the Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, PA to take on the Erie Otters with a 7 pm face off tomorrow night, before returning home to host the North Bay Battalion at 7:05 pm at the Dow Event Center next Saturday night.