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windsorspitfires.com staff reports
He's already exceeded expectations. But Friday night in Kitchener, Alexander Khokhlachev took things to a new level.
KoKo scored four times and captain Ryan Ellis was dominant, as the Spitfires beat the Rangers, 7-1, at the Aud in Kitchener.
The win moves the Spitfires (27-15-2-2) into a third-place tie in the Western Conference with the Rangers - with a key re-match set for Sunday afternoon in Windsor.
With the Spitfires down two of their top-9 forwards, the home side clearly wanted to bang the body in the first period.
But Windsor matched Kitchener's physical intensity, before exploding offensively.
Alexander Khokhlachev and Tom Kuhnhackl put the visitors up 2-0 in a 26-second span.
KoKo opened the scoring, showing great hands while taking a pass from Adrian Robertson and putting a big time move on Mike Morrison. Later on, he scored his second on the power play, giving the Spits a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Spitfires put the game out of reach with four goals in the second.
After Ryan Ellis and Kerby Rychel - his first as a Spitfire on a quick wrister - put the Spits up 5-0, Khokhlachev went back to work. His 27th and 28th of the season gave him four on the night, and the Spitfires a 7-1 lead after two periods.
Ellis had a goal and five assists in another outstanding performance.
John Cullen made 30 saves in the win. He'll start again on Sunday as the Spits host the Rangers in a matinee.
STATS PACK
SCORING
FIRST PERIOD
WSR Khokhlachev, (25) (Robertson, Ellis), 7:07 (PP)
WSR Kuhnhackl, (23) (Duininck, Posa), 7:33
WSR Khokhlachev, (26) (Ellis, Webermin), 15:38 (PP)
SECOND PERIOD
WSR Ellis, (16) (Ebert, Kassian), 5:46 (PP)
WSR Rychel, (3) (Ellis, Vail), 8:25
WSR Khokhlachev, (27) (Ellis, Kassian), 14:19
KIT Thomson, (5) (Rieder, Doornbosch), 17:11 (PP)
WSR Khokhlachev, (28) (Kuhnhackl, Ellis), 17:29
THIRD PERIOD
No Scoring
POWER PLAYS
Windsor 3-for-6 - Kitchener 1-for-7
SHOTS ON GOAL
WINDSOR 34 - KITCHENER 31
