Erie Otters face Kitchener Rangers in OHL playoffs. What the season series tells us.
There was a heightened sense of physical play when the Erie Otters hosted the Kitchener Rangers in the teams’ regular-season finale last Saturday.
That became understandable less than 24 hours later, when each learned they’ll face off in one of the Ontario Hockey League’s four Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Erie’s dramatic 4-3 overtime victory turned into the first of what could be eight straight games between the franchises.
Return to postseason play: Erie Otters return to OHL playoff action with best-of-seven series against Kitchener.
Their next is Friday’s playoff series opener at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. The opening puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“It wasn’t a playoff (Saturday),” Otters forward Dylan Edwards said, “but it was a game where we had to show up and want them to fear us in the first round.”
Edwards was on Erie Insurance Arena’s rink when linemate Martin Misiak, before a fan appreciation night crowd of 6,356, recorded the game-winning goal with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in extra five-minute period.
The Otters, regardless if they won or lost, were guaranteed an OHL postseason invitation for the first time since 2017. That year, they were handed the Robertson Cup as league champions.
However, Erie had to beat Kitchener in regulation of overtime to have any chance at clinching the conference’s fifth playoff seed instead of the Guelph Storm.
Had the Otters been seeded sixth, they were looking at multiple 12-hour bus trips to and from Sault Ste. Marie to face the third-seeded Greyhounds.
Misiak’s goal helped Erie, which won a season-best fifth consecutive game, shorten their travel plans to three hours for games against the fourth-seeded Rangers.
While Erie will end the franchise’s longest postseason drought when the series starts Friday, its span between such series against Kitchener is much longer. The teams haven’t met during the postseason since 2005, when the Rangers won that year’s conference quarterfinal series in six games.
Misiak’s heroic goal last Saturday capped the last of Erie’s six regular season games against Kitchener. The Rangers, despite that loss, still won the season series 4-2.
2023-24 season series: Erie vs. Kitchener
Oct. 27, 2023, at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
Kitchener 5, Erie 4 OT
The Otters and Rangers required extra hockey to determine a winner in three of the teams’ six regular-season games. Their initial meeting was the first of those three. Erie trailed 5-3 when coach Stan Butler pulled goaltender Jacob Gibbons for an extra attacker with less than three minutes left in regulation. The tactic paid off when Malcolm Spence scored with 1:40 left. Gibbons was sent back out to the Otters’ crease, only to skate back to their bench 21 seconds later. Once again, the extra attacker worked for the visitors. Misiak, off passes from Ondrej Molnar and Pano Fimis, converted against Rangers goalie Tristan Malboeuf with 17 seconds left in regulation. Kitchener, though, still gained a second point when Matthew Sop scored less than 90 seconds into OT.
---
Nov. 21, 2023, at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
Kitchener 10, Erie 3
Unlike the month before, there was no drama in the teams’ rematch. Erie gave up 10 goals in a game for the first time since the season finale to its 2021-22 regular season. Kitchener never trailed after Antonio Pugliese scored twice and Filip Mesar once against Gibbons within the first eight minutes of action. The Otters pulled within 4-3 when Carey Terrance converted a shorthanded goal midway through the second period, but no closer. Pugliese totaled four goals, with Mesar good for a hat trick and an assist.
---
Nov. 29, 2023, at Erie Insurance Arena
Kitchener 5, Erie 4 OT
The Otters hosted the Rangers eight days after their lopsided loss. While closer, the outcome remained the same. Kitchener won in overtime when Sop converted with 1:29 left in three-on-three play. Terrance recorded two goals for Erie. Spence scored once and assisted twice. Sop’s game-winner followed his assist on Kitchener’s opening goal, a shorthanded score by Trent Swick, and his game-tying goal with 2:10 left in regulation.
---
Jan. 12, 2024, at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
Kitchener 6, Erie 2
The Rangers completed a three-game home sweep of the Otters with significant help from Carson Rehkopf. The center recorded a hat trick, with his last goal part of a 3-0 run for the hosts. Fimis scored on an Erie power play and assisted on its other goal by Edwards.
---
Feb. 3, 2024, at Erie Insurance Arena
Erie 6, Kitchener 1
The Otters finally vanquished the Rangers with a comfortable home win. They led 5-0 in a game in which neither team scored after the 9:30 mark of the second period. Erie led 4-0 when Terrance scored on consecutive shots in 12-second span of the first period. However, Gibbons was voted the game’s first star for his 25 saves and blanking the Rangers over the third period.
---
March 23, 2024, at Erie Insurance Arena
Erie 4, Kitchener 3 OT
While Misiak was the hero of last Saturday’s season finale, it was right wingers Sam Alfano and Edwards who experienced multi-point games. Alfano’s two assists helped Erie erase Kitchener’s early 2-0 advantage. Edwards totaled a goal and an assist. Malboeuf, who was beaten high to the stick side on Misiak’s game-winner, was credited with an assist on Pugliese’s goal that gave the Rangers their 2-0 lead.
Playoff series schedule
Friday: Erie at Kitchener, 7 p.m.
Sunday: Erie at Kitchener, 2 p.m.
Tuesday: Kitchener at Erie, 7 p.m.
April 4: Kitchener at Erie, 7 p.m.
April 5: Erie at Kitchener, 7 p.m. (if necessary)
April 8: Kitchener at Erie, 7 p.m. (if necessary)
April 9: Erie at Kitchener, 7 p.m. (if necessary)
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: OHL playoffs: Erie Otters face Kitchener Rangers in conference opener
