(RAPID CITY, SD) – The Rapid City Rush made their final home game of the regular season a night to remember against the Brampton Beast. Emotional pregame presentations to Coach Joe Ferras and Scott Wray helped charge the Rush, who engaged in another back-and-forth affair with the Beast, to their third straight win, 5-3, over the Beast, clinching home-ice for the first round of the playoffs behind Tim Boron’s career-record 30th win of the season.
The back-and-forth mantra of last night’s game carried over to tonight, making for an entertaining first period. Brampton got on the board first, as a rebound from an initial Tim Boron save was passed to former Rush defenseman Jamie VanderVeeken, who would rip the puck through traffic and in to give the Beast the early 1-0 lead 11:55 into the action. Exactly 20 seconds later, however, Ben Power would score his first goal in a Rush uniform, taking an east-west pass from Jared Brown to even the score at 1-1 heading into the second period.
The Rush were back to their early offensive ways, as Anthony Perdicaro tipped in a Brett Kostolansky shot for the second night in a row to give the Rush their first lead of the game at 2-1 just 3:48 into the second period. At the 8:58 mark of the second though, the Beast would tie the game on an interesting shot. Steve Ward would clear the puck from center ice into the Rush zone, but the puck took a deflection and changed the trajectory of the shot past Tim Boron to even things up at 2-2 heading into the third.
Jared Brown would give the Rush another lead 1:35 into the final act of the performance, diving to send in a rebound off of a Sean Erickson shot from the point past an outstretched Kris Westblom to re-establish the Rush lead at 3-2. However, 24 seconds later, Scott Howes would tie the game up again for the Beast, taking advantage of major confusion in front to make the score 3-3 with virtually a whole period left to play. With 1:45 left in the game, the captain Jesse Schultz sent home a rebound from a Brett Kostolansky shot between the legs of Westblom to give the Rush their final lead change of the game, at 4-3. Justin Faryna would ensure the win for the Rush with an empty-netter moments later to eventually help the Rush to a 5-3 win, clinching home-ice for the first round of the playoffs.
Tim Boron made 11 saves of the night on 14 shots faced, both lows for the season, for his first 30-win season in his career (30-12-1). Jared Brown’s point streak extends to eleven games with his goal and assist tonight, and has now scored five goals with eight assists for thirteen points in that span. Ben Power, on a three game pointstreak, scored his first goal in a Rush uniform, to give him a goal and two assists in that stretch. The Rush clinch home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs with their win tonight, and conclude their home schedule with a 22-11-0 record. They are back in action next Thursday as they take on the Beast once again in the start of a three game series to close out the season.
Other Rush News:
Playoff tickets are now available for the 2013-14 postseason as the Rush gear up for their Rush for the Ray Miron President’s Cup!! Call the Rush office at 716-7825 for details.
Stay informed on Rush happenings through the official Rapid City Rush team website, www.RapidCityRush.com, and the Rapid City Rush mobile app, available on iTunes and Google Play.
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