Michael Morgan netted a hat trick to lead the North York Rangers over the Buffalo Jr. Sabres, 4-1.
Morgan got on the scoresheet 4:05 into the first period. He then added goals at 10:02 into the second and at 12:51 into the second.
The win by North York broke a deadlock and gave the Rangers a 2-1 advantage in the best of seven series.
North York was led by goalie Gianluca Baggetta, who finished with 26 saves while allowing one goal. Baggetta managed to improve on his goals against average, which stood at 2.6 prior to the game.
The Rangers forced Buffalo’s netminders to work hard to keep the puck out of the net, getting 32 shots and forcing 28 saves. Tucker Weppner made 23 stops and Brian Kowalski made five.
Others who scored for North York included Fedor Rudakov and Keegan Blasby, who scored one goal each. In addition, North York received assists from Chris Sekelyk, who had two and Kyle Clarke, Grayden Gottschalk, Nick Zanette, Luke Hincenbergs, and Nick Campoli, who contributed one each.
The Jr. Sabres put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow North York to score on any of its seven power plays.
Buffalo was led by Dylan Seitz, who scored the team’s only goal. Seitz scored 2:11 into the second period to make the score 2-1 North York.Mitchell Spring assisted on the tally.
The Rangers incurred 12 minutes in penalty time with six minors. The Jr. Sabres incurred 40 minutes in penalty time with 10 minors.
