The line of Grayden Gottschalk, Michael Morgan, and Chris Sekelyk combined for another 10 points on the afternoon and the North York Rangers thumped the Orangeville Flyers 7-1 on Sunday.
Gianluca Baggetta provided a stellar performance in the North York net, posting 29 stops for his 14th victory of the campaign, while Ruan Badenhorst and Nicholas Latinovich shared 37 shots for Orangeville.
Afterward, Rangers head coach Brent Hughes explained what makes the so-called MSG Line (Morgan, Sekelyk, Gottschalk) so successful.
“They really use each other,” he said.
“Everyone has a role on that line and they stick to it. Sekelyk really slows the game down, and controls it; Gottschalk wins a lot of those little battles and is a huge presence in front of the net; and Morgan just a warrior that competes hard in every practice and in every game. That unit has a little bit of everything.”
It was the veteran Morgan that got the ball rolling a mere 29 seconds into the contest when he one-timed home a centring feed from Gottschalk from below the Orangeville goal line.
Sekelyk got into the act just under two minutes later by banging in a rebound into an empty net from a Gottschalk wrister; and then the provider turned sniper five minutes before the end of the opening frame when Gottschalk chipped in a loose puck from just in front of the blue paint.
Nick Zanette found an open net off a poor Flyer turnover 2:29 into the second period, and then when Tyler Currie fired home a rebound of his own at the 7:03-mark of the middle frame, the rout was on.
Lucas Smilsky got a consolation power-play marker on a five-on-three at 9:44 of the third, but Ted Hunt and Gottschalk’s second put the Flyers away for good.
North York took all five meetings between the two clubs this season.
Coach Hughes remarked how he was content with his club’s performance after a less than stellar outing at St. Mike’s the Friday before.
“I think it’s a good bounce back game for us,” he said.
“Even though we got the two points at St. Mike’s, I was not happy with our effort level, and giving up a two-goal lead like we did. Tonight, the way we rebounded, I thought the goaltender Baggetta played a great game. The power play needs to be better, but I thought the penalty kill was very good, despite giving up a goal there on five on three. Overall I was happy with the effort I saw over 60 minutes.”
Teddy Hunt also added a multi-point outing, while Gottschalk posted a career high with his four-point offering.
The Rangers’ final home game of the regular season comes Wednesday night vs. the St. Michael’s Buzzers, and then the club will finish Friday evening in Pickering with a date with the Panthers.
