Thursday, May 12, 2022

Othmann, Cuylle, And Garand All Come Up Big To Help Teams Win

While there were only three New York Rangers prospects in action on Thursday evening, all three were key reasons why their teams won. The three Brennan Othmann, Will Cuylle, and Dylan Garand have been the top prospects all season long and their play is why their teams are just one win away from advancing to the next round.

Brennan Othmann has been "THE PROSPECT" all season long, from his outstanding offensive numbers to his solid work on the defensive end. Othmann has been my pick to make the jump directly to the Rangers next season.

The game's second star did what he does best scoring the big goals when his team needed it the most and he did exactly that in-game four against the Soo Greyhounds. Othmann scored at 8:37 of overtime to give his Firebirds a 3-2 win and a commanding 3-1 series lead.

It was his eighth goal of the playoffs and just an FYI, five of those eight goals were the game-winning goals. When you think about how Flint has won just seven playoff games and Othmann has the game-winner in five of them then you know you have a special player.

In addition to the goal scored, Othmann set up the game-tying goal with his sixth playoff assist to give him a total of 14 points so far in this playoff season. By the numbers, Othmann is eighth in overall scoring, his eight goals are fourth-best in the OHL, and his five game-winners are tops in the OHL.

The series heads back to Flint for game five on Saturday as the Firebirds are looking to advance to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

Will Cuylle also earned a "second star" with his play as his Windsor Spitfires rallied from two goals down to defeat the Kitchener Rangers 6-3 to take a 3-1 series lead. Cuylle had three assists along with a +4 as the Spitfires took a commanding lead in their playoff series.

The Windsor captain earned his first point of the night when he set up Alex Christopoulos for Winsor's third goal of the game and first lead at 12:17 of the second period. Just 1:40 later at 14:57, Cuylle earned a secondary assist on Windsor's fourth goal (and eventual game-winner) to give his team a 4-2 lead.

In the third period with Kitchener trying to make a comeback, it was Cuylle once again with the primary assist on Alex Christopoulos's second goal of the game. The goal put Windsor up 5-3 as they went on to win 6-3.

This series shifts back to Windsor as they took will play on Saturday evening. If both Windsor and Flint win on Saturday, they will face each other in the OHL's Western Conference Finals.

Dylan Garand, the scoresheet said only made 18 saves on 20 shots but it was enough to help his Kamloops Blazers defeat the Vancouver Giants 4-2. In this one, it wasn't about the number of saves that Garand had to make but rather the quality as seen in this highlight.

Now while that save wasn't bad, I think Garand made an even bigger save in the third period when he stopped a breakaway. Garand was really good when he had to be and he is the reason why his Blazers will be looking to finish off the Giants Friday night back in Kamloops.

By his numbers, Garand is 7-1 with a 2.16 goals against (second-best WHL), a 0.925 save percentage (also second WHL), and his seven wins are also second-best in WHL. Garand and the Blazers are one win away from a trip to the WHL's Western Conference finals.

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