The Guelph Storm relied on its power play to blow away the Kitchener Rangers Sunday afternoon at the Sleeman Centre.
Guelph scored five times with the man advantage en route to a 7-3 victory.
Leading the way were rookie blueliners Michael Buchinger and Cam Allen. Buchinger, 18, had four assists and Allen, 17, recorded his first career OHL hat trick – all on the power play.
Buchinger now has two goals and 10 assists in his past five games. Allen has four goals and five assist over the same stretch.
"Just keeping it simple. Not trying to do too much on the power play is key," said Buchinger. "I think we've found that out over the course of the season and I think it's working well for us now.
"Not trying to do too much. We always have a lot of skill on both units."
Having a couple of big bodies in front of the net is also paying dividends, as Brayden Guy and Braeden Bowman were providing plenty of traffic and screens in front of the Kitchener goalies on Sunday.
"They're definitely huge assets to our power play. They're important and we wouldn't be scoring the goals we are now if we didn't have them on the unit," Buchinger said.
Storm coach George Burnett said the power play has been much better over the past three or four games.
"We're making some good choices, we're moving the puck and when we don't have it we're working hard to get it back," Burnett said.
"We're getting some quality shots. Cam tonight had three shots from the weak side. It's nice to see him rewarded. For a young kid to come in and get three power play goals, that's pretty cool."
The team has also been able to practice its power play, a luxury it didn't have when they were struggling through COVID protocols and a busy game schedule.
Guelph's power play came into the game ranked 11th in the league. It left the game ranked 9th.
"But it can go away quickly, so you have to continue to work at it," Burnett said.
"When we aren't successful we're probably making too many passes, too many saucer passes, too many back passes. We're keeping it simple, moving the puck quick and hard, and things open up for you."
The Storm pumped four goals past rookie Rangers netminder Marcus Vandenberg in the first period then added two unanswered in the second to put the game out of reach.
Sasha Pastujov continued his return to form, scoring twice to give him five in his past four games after going scoreless in 11. Braeden Bowman and Brayden Guy had the other Storm goals.
Reid Valade, Mike Petizian and Mitch Martin had the Kitchener goals.
Guelph outshot the Rangers 42-19 overall, with Owen Bennett earning the win in the Storm net.
Guelph plays in London Wednesday and is home to Owen Sound on Friday and Flint on Sunday, in a 4 p.m. start.
The Sleeman Centre will be open to full capacity the next time the Storm hits the ice.
