PLYMOUTH, MICH.

Mikkel Boedker can be as smooth as a Viking breeze.

On Saturday night, the Danish winger was more gritty than slick when the Kitchener Rangers needed it most.
Boedker scored twice in the third period as the Rangers beat the Plymouth Whalers 2-1 before 3,337 at Compuware Sports Arena.

Both of Boedker’s goals, his 22nd and 23rd of his rookie Ontario Hockey League season, were more homely than high-light reel.

They were more Camilla than Diana.

“Goals are goals,” shrugged Boedker after the OHL-leading Rangers notched their fourth straight victory heading into Sunday’s 2 p.m. start in Saginaw.

“Today, I fought my way to the blue paint. That’s what I’ve been looking for the last couple games. Today, I kind of pulled my head down and crashed to the net. I was lucky that the puck found a way in.”

Boedker, who is rated as a first-round pick for the upcoming NHL entry draft, is usually blasting top-shelf slappers when he is scoring.

In Plymouth, he was more of a billiards trick-shot artist than sniper.

Boedker opened the scoring three minutes into the third as both teams played with four skaters. Boedker broke down the left side and swung around behind the net.

As he crossed the red line he banked the puck in off Whalers goalie Jeremy Smith.

“I saw that he went down on his knees,” Boedker said of his first goal against Smith. “I tried to get in behind him. I hit his left knee and he twisted. So he pulled it in himself. Lucky for me it went it.”

Smith, who played for the U.S. national team at the world juniors, wanted that first one back.

“It went off the post and hit me and went in,” Smith said. “Just one of those ones you wish you could have taken back. But it’s goals like that that win games.”

Still, the Whalers tied it on a power play two minutes later as Chris Terry buried a rebound past Rangers goalie Josh Unice.

But Boedker put the Rangers ahead 2-1 three minutes after the equalizer. Boedker cue-balled the rebound of a Mike Duco shot past an outstretched Smith.

With the pace of a curling stone, it hit the post and slid in.

“I found a rebound and poked it,” Boedker said. “It went really slow in.”

Smith, who was outstanding with 36 saves, was down on himself for leaving a juicy rebound for Boedker.

“It was a bad rebound,” Smith said. “It should have gone to the corner. It ended up out front. He did what he’s supposed to do.”

The Rangers dominated the first period in Plymouth, outshooting the Whalers 13-2.

Smith made several fine stops, including a leg save on a side-door slam-dunk power-play bid by slumping Rangers winger Nick Spaling.

Unice, who finished with 23 saves, had just one tough stop to make in the first. With a minute and a half left, Unice snared an Andrew Fournier wrister from close range.

Smith was run over by Boedker with 15 seconds left in the first. Boedker drove to the net hard and took out Smith in the process. Smith was shaken up but carried on into the second period.

The Whalers were sharper in the second and Unice had to stop Vern Cooper on a breakaway five minutes in. Unice stretched out and made a toe save on Cooper’s deke attempt.

Meanwhile, Justin Azevedo fired high and wide on his own breakaway bid on Smith.

Spaling, who has just one goal in 12 games since returning from mononucleosis, was poke-checked by Smith on another scoring bid. The loose puck went to Azevedo, who hit the post to Smith’s right.

Kitchener outshot Plymouth 10-9 in the second.

Azevedo’s assist on Boedker’s second goal pulled Azevedo into a tie for the OHL scoring lead. Azevedo and Oshawa’s Brett MacLean both have 103 points.

Plymouth had a late two-man advantage for 28 seconds but the Rangers killed it off with ease. Unice, who hails from the nearby Toledo area, held on for an impressive win in front of family and friends who made the 40-minute drive in from Ohio.

“When you get two shots in the first period, it’s kind of hard to stay in the game,” said Unice, who was also considered for the U.S. junior team.

“The team played great. Obviously, when you hold a team to two shots, you’re doing something right.”

Rangers coach Peter DeBoer agreed that Boedker added more grit to his game.

“He got rewarded for going to the dirty areas tonight,” DeBoer said. “I wouldn’t say that he hasn’t gone to the dirty areas but tonight, more than anything, I thought he made a point of it. Against a goalie that was ‘on’, those are the type of goals you have to score.”

The Whalers suffered a huge blow when overage blueliner Wes Cunningham had recent surgery to repair cartilage on an injured finger. Cunningham’s junior career is likely over, although he could return for the playoffs. In the meantime, he may serve as a Whalers assistant coach. Cunningham injured the finger during a fight in Kingston on Feb. 10.
 jhicks@therecord.com


GAME SUMMARY:

Rangers 2 at Whalers 1

First period:

No scoring.
Penalties — Anderson, Kit (cross-checking) 1:59; Bellemore, Ply (tripping) 9:06; Anderson, Kit (roughing) 11:58; Geldard, Ply (head check) 19:45

Second period:

No scoring.
Penalties — T.G. Brown, Ply (roughing), Kadri, Kit (diving, 10-minute misconduct) 2:09; Mashinter, Kit (tripping) 6:49; Fournier, Ply (holding) 9:19
Third period:

1. Kitchener, Boedker 22 (Duco, Weber) 3:05
2. Plymouth, Terry 37 (Bellemore, Cooper) 5:12 (pp)
3. Kitchener, Boedker 23 (Duco, Azevedo) 8:16
Penalties — Azevedo, Kit (slashing) 1:46; Jenks, Ply (tripping) 1:48; Duco, Kit (hooking) 3:39; Mashinter, Kit, T.G. Brown, Ply (fighting) 7:10; T.J. Brown, Ply (delay of game) 9:58; Dzielski, Kit (hooking) 14:54; Weber, Kit (roughing) 16:26

Shots on goal:
Kit 13-10-15 38
Ply 2-9-13 24

Goaltenders: Josh Unice, Kit. Jeremy Smith, Ply.
Power plays: Kit (0-5), Ply (1-7)
Referees: Ryan Carroll, Scott Hoberg
Linesmen: Drew Jackson, Chris Libett
Attendance: 3,337