(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – Taylor Doherty and Tyler Scofield each had a pair of goals to their name, but Danny Battochio stole the spotlight with a 26-save shutout as he helped the Rapid City Rush blank the Indy Fuel by a 4-0 score on Saturday night in the first-ever meeting of both clubs.
Two games in a row, both teams skated to a scoreless first period intermission report, and two nights in a row, the Rush opened up the offense in the middle period. Scoring first for the Rush in a 10-minute span was Taylor Doherty, who fired a shot from the blue line that was eventually deflected by a Fuel defenseman. The deflected puck took an arc-like trajectory over the outstretched hand of Fuel goaltender, Shan Owen, and rolled into the net, giving the Rush a 1-0 lead at the 7:23 mark of the second frame (Zach Cohen notched the lone assist). Exactly 4:06 later, Tyler Scofield recorded his second goal in as many games, burying a pass from Danick Gauthier that doubled the Rush lead to 2-0 with 8:31 left in the second (Gauthier and Michael Young earned the assists). Scofield was at it again with less than four minutes to play in the second, as he knocked in a power play goal on a loose puck in front of Owen’s net. The strike, his second of the night 17 seconds into the last Rush power play of the game tripled the Rush advantage to 3-0 with 3:34 left in the period (Winston Day Chief recorded an assist, while Danick Gauthier added his second assist of the night).
With just over five minutes remaining in the game, the Fuel pulled Owen from the net to try and spark a comeback. Taylor Doherty took advantage of the unoccupied four-by-six frame of iron and sent the puck in from the neutral zone to double his goal total to two and his team’s lead over the Fuel to 4-0 (Chris Ciotti notched the lone assist). Towards the end of the game, Battochio hung strong in the Rush net and finished out the end of the game with a 26-save shutout and a split in the first two games of the Rush road trip.
The Rush conclude their road trip in Fort Wayne as they take on the Komets for the first time since the opening round of the 2012 CHL Playoffs. Puck drop for the first of two contests is slated for Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. MST.
