(WINDSOR, CO) – Winston Day Chief scored twice, including the game-winner with 1:42 left in the game, and rookie Spencer Pommells added his first goal of the season as the Rapid City Rush, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes won their second straight against their archrivals, the Colorado Eagles, in as many nights by a 3-2 score on Saturday night. The win is also the Rush’s third-straight overall.
It was déjà vu all over again, with both rivals going scoreless through one, and the Rush starting the scoring entries in the middle frame. With less than five minutes to go in the second, Rush defenseman Nolan Descoteaux fired a puck from the blue line through traffic on Eagles goaltender Jacob DeSerres. Rush forward Winston Day Chief was there to pot the rebound past the Colorado rookie and in, scoring his second goal of the season, 24 hours removed from his 50th career goal, to put the Rush on first 1-0 with 4:57 left in the second. With just over 30 seconds to go, however, the Eagles struck back and tied things up. 30.4 seconds were remaining on the clock when Eagles forward Jesse Mychan sent home a rebound off a Jake Marto shot past Rush netminder Danny Battochio, sending both teams into the second intermission knotted up at 1-1.
The final act of the performance proved to be just as entertaining as its previous night’s counterpart. Just over the halfway point of the period, Rush rookie Spencer Pommells poked a loose puck by DeSerres after he won a faceoff back to Rush defenseman Jonathan Narbonne. Pommells’ first goal of the season gave the Rush a 2-1 advantage with 10:04 to go in the game. Less than two minutes later though, the home side evened things up when Eagles forward Christian Isackson powered through traffic to send a loose puck by Battochio, squaring the score at 2-2 with 8:12 to play. Like last night, the Rush got the final say, as Winston Day Chief etched himself on the score sheet for a second time, igniting the goal lamp on a DanO’Donoghue rebound with 1:42 left on the clock. After staving off the onslaught of the extra-attacker offense from the Eagles, the Rush claimed their third straight win with a 3-2 victory.
Danny Battochio won his third start of the season, all consecutive, to improve to (3-0-0), stopping 27 of 29 shots on net. The Rush claimed Game 2 of the 12-game Crystal Cup Series, now holding a 4 points to none lead with 10 games remaining.
Another rematch between these foes is slated for Wednesday, October 28th, in the Budweiser Events Center, with puck drop slated for 7:05 p.m. MST.
