ALLEN FORCES RUBBER MATCH WITH GAME TWO WIN

(RAPID CITY, SD) – Mikael Tam scored 34 seconds into the contest, and with Cedric Montminy’s help gave the Rapid City Rush an early 2-0 lead, but the Allen Americans, led by Corey Mackin’s pair of tallies, scored four unanswered goals to claim a 4-2 win on Friday night. With the Rush win on Wednesday and Allen’s win tonight, it forces a rubber match for tomorrow night’s series finale.

The Rush jumped right out with a pair of goals, and left the opening period with a lead for the first time all season.  Just 34 seconds into the game, Garrett Klotz fired an east-west pass from behind the net, and it caromed off of Cedric Montminy and to Mikael Tam in the high slot area. Tam zipped a shot that squeaked by Allen goalie CJ Motte, and gave the Rush a 1-0 lead on their fastest opening goal of the season (Montminy and Klotz assisted). Less than seven minutes later, Montminy hit paydirt, potting a backdoor rebound off of a Jack Suter shot to increase the Rush lead to 2-0 at 7:24 of the first (Suter and Tam assisted). Despite the hot start for the Rush, the Americans countered with a power play goal in the final minutes of the first period. With 2:10 remaining, Corey Mackin earned his first of a pair on the night, rifling a back-door one-timer off a Matt Register pass through Rush net-minder Dave Tendeck to put Allen on the board, trailing 2-1 after one (Register and Jake McGrew assisted). For the Rush, this marked the first time in the season they lead after one period of play.

The Americans threw back a quick goal at the Rush early in the second. Exactly 75 seconds gone by in the second, Conner Bleackley netted his first with Allen on a point-blank-range backhander that whizzed over Tendeck’s shoulder, squaring the game at 2-2 (Register and Kayle Doetzel assisted). Mackin struck again at 8:08 to give Allen the lead, firing a shot on net that barely edged between Tendeck’s skate and the post, and barely slid over the goal line to give Allen a 3-2 advantage (Kameron Kielly had the lone assist).

The Rush had chances to square the game up, especially in the final 69 seconds of the contest. Despite earning a power play and pulling Tendeck for a 6-on-4 advantage, Josh Lammon fired a shot from inside his own blue line with 59 seconds remaining into the empty net to seal a 4-2 Americans win.

Dave Tendeck stopped 21 of 24 shots in the defeat (0-3-0-0).

The Rush conclude their three-game series with a rubber match against the archrival Allen Americans tomorrow night. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. MDT. In the finale, help us salute our front-line workers and local heroes during “Local Heroes Night”, presented by Vitalant. Without their sacrifice and dedication during the Covid-19 pandemic, our season would not be possible.  

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