Lucas Moore scored the winning goal in the shootout as the Brantford Bulldogs closed out the preseason with a 4-3 win over the Kitchener Rangers on Saturday, September 21, 2024.
Both teams generated scoring opportunities early in the first period but failed to strike. The Bulldogs’ first great opportunity came at the 4:24 mark. Joshua Avery dished the puck to Parker Holmes in front of the Kitchener goal, but Rangers netminder Jackson Parsons made the timely save.
Bulldogs scored first on the power play with 6:25 remaining in the opening period. It was first set up by Owen Protz, who found Jake O’Brien and made the great feed to Brii Long for the one-timer past Parsons.
Ryerson Leeanders was between the pipes for Brantford and impressed the home crowd with key stops, including a stick save on the Rangers’ Luca Romano near the period’s halfway point. Leeanders would stop all eight Rangers shots, preserving the one-goal lead through twenty minutes.
The Rangers got on the board early in the second period. On the powerplay, less than ninety seconds in, Rangers Adrian Misajevic shot the puck that just got past the sprawling Leeanders. The Bulldogs tried to respond at the five-minute mark of the period. Luca Testa seized the puck in the neutral zone and skated toward the Kitchener goal but was denied by Parsons. The Bulldogs regained the lead with 6:59 left in the period. With the man advantage, a mad scramble in front of the Rangers crease resulted in Zakary Lavoie jamming the loose puck past the goal line.
In the third period, the Bulldogs padded their lead by a pair. At 4:50, Noah Roberts delivered a shot from the blue line and was redirected in front of the Rangers goal by Noah Nelson for a 3-1 Bulldogs lead. But Kitchener didn’t go down quietly and made a comeback to tie the game on the goals from Justin Bottineau and the second goal of the game by Misajevic. The Rangers tried to score the game-winner with 1:50 remaining, but Leeanders made the save of the game to keep the game tied.
As per league rule in the preseason, the game went directly to a shootout. After both teams missed in the first round, Lucas Moore scored to give Bulldogs the lead, and Leeanders stopped Misajevic for the win.
