(RAPID CITY, SD) – The Rapid City Rush tied the game with two power play goals in the last two periods of play, but the Colorado Eagles found a game-winner with less than 10 minutes to play to earn their second win in as many nights against the Rush to eventually win 4-2 on Saturday night.
Two nights in a row, Colorado jumped out to a first period lead. With 12:21 gone by in the game, Jake Marto took a pass from Ludwig Karlsson and sped into the Rush zone, creating a partial break. Marto sent a wrist shot up high on Rush net-minder, Sam Marotta, and afforded the Eagles a 1-0 lead (Karlsson and Peter MacIntyre notched the assists). Moments later, on Colorado’s first power play of the game, Darryl Bootland found an open lane in the Rush zone and snapped a shot by Marotta to double the Eagles lead to 2-0 with 4:10 left in the frame (Colin Joe and Clarke Saunders earned the assists).
The Rush found life in the second period by virtue of solid special teams play, and halved their deficit. With 6:39 gone by in the second, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel sent a one-timer by Colorado goaltender, Clarke Saunders, on the second Rush power play to put the Rush on the board, trailing 2-1 heading into the third (James Melindy and Winston Day Chief earned the assists).
Early in the third period, the Rush power play cashed in for a second time and sent a Rush crowd of almost 4,500 people wild. With 15:52 left in the game, Daniel Barczuk deflected a Tyler Scofield one-timer by Saunders to even the score at 2-2, giving the Rush a second power play goal in what would be three attempts in the game (Scofield and Mikhail Stefanovich recorded the helpers). Unfortunately for the Rush, the Eagles would re-take the lead and not relinquish it for the remainder of play. With 6:45 left in the game, Colorado’s Everett Sheen took the puck wide in the Rush zone and fired it on Marotta’s net. Johnny Lazo was there to put the rebound home and give the Eagles a 3-2 advantage (Sheen and Jake Marto earned the assists; Marto’s assist acting as his second point in the game). The Rush pulled Marotta from the net late in the game for an extra-attacker opportunity in an attempt to tie the game, but Derek Rodwell sent the puck into the empty Rush net with 45.4 seconds left to seal a 4-2 win over the Rush (Trent Daavettila got the lone assist).
Sam Marotta stopped 31 of 34 shots thrown towards his net, falling to 0-3-0 with the Rush (3-4-0 on the year).
The Rush take to the road to play the Idaho Steelheads next Wednesday, January 27th, at CenturyLink Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:10 p.m. MST.
