SLAPSHOT POSTGAME COVERAGE PRESENTED BY ASSURANT SOLUTIONS
AMERICANS SURGE IN THIRD PERIOD, TAKE 2-1 SERIES LEAD
(RAPID CITY, SD) – Johan Ryd scored his first goal of the postseason, but the Allen Americans stormed back in the third period to defeat the Rapid City Rush 4-1 in Game 3 of the ECHL’s Central Division Finals. The win gives Allen a 2-1 lead in the series with two games remaining in the Rapid City portion of the series later this weekend.
It took 21:42 of playing time, but eventually the goal lamp started lighting. Johan Ryd had the first ignitition of the goal lamp, rifling a Winston Day Chief pass behind Allen goaltender Riley Gill to lift the Rush to a 1-0 for the second time in this series with 1:42 gone by in the second period.
Both teams failed to score in the remainder of the second frame, but the Americans woke up in the third and fired four straight goals in roughly 12 minutes of playing time. Justin Baker got things started for the Americans, sending a loose puck on a scramble in front of the Rush net past Rapid City netminder Danny Battochio to even the game at 1-1 at the 5:57 mark of the final period. One second after the conclusion of Allen’s second man-advantage of the evening, Aaron Gens, off of his blue line, batted home a loose puck on the back door of Battochio’s net to establish the American’s first, and only, lead of the night at 2-1 with 11:06 played in the third. Roughly 5 minutes later at the 16:15 mark of the period, Spencer Asuchak took advantage of a turnover on the far side of the Rush zone and went on a breakaway, beating Battochio to increase the American’s lead to 3-1. Ian Schultz closed out the scoring for the game with a deflection of a Kevin Young shot from the blue line to bring the score to the final count of 4-1, and to lift the Americans to a 2-1 series lead.
Danny Battochio received his fifth loss of the postseason, stopping 33 of 37 shots on net (5-5-0).
Game 4 is slated for Saturday night, May 9th, at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, with a start time of 8:05 p.m. scheduled.
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