RUSH FALL TO ACES DESPITE SECOND PERIOD COMEBACK

(ANCHORAGE, AK) – Ryan Misiak and Mark Miller sparked another second period comeback for the Rapid City Rush, the latter doing so by virtue of his first goal as a professional, but the Alaska Aces wound up with a 3-2 win over the Rush in regulation on Friday night.

Two nights in a row, the Aces opened scoring entries in the contest. With 11:50 gone by in the contest, Tomasso Traversa received a pass from Anthony DeLuca in the high slot of the Rush zone and sent a shot off the back bar of the goal by Rush net-minder, Danny Battochio, to put the Aces up 1-0 (DeLuca and Ben Lake earned the assists). Less than two minutes later, Peter Sivak took advantage of a Rush neutral zone turnover and went on a breakaway, beating Battochio with a blocker side shot to double his team’s lead to 2-0 with 13:24 played in the opening frame (the goal was unassisted).

Just like Thursday night’s counterpart, the Rush quickly evened things up in the second period, doing so within the first three and a half minutes. Ryan Misiak sparked the Rush comeback has he slammed home a Mark Miller rebound by Aces goaltender Lukas Hafner to halve the deficit to 2-1 with 1:45 played in the middle frame (Miller and Max Nicastro garnered the helpers). Less than two minutes later, Mark Miller added to his stellar beginning as a professional by registering his first pro goal, tying the game at two after he buried a Lindsay Sparks pass with 3:23 gone by in the second (Sparks earned an assist and his now on a three-game assist and point streak; Brian O’Rourke also added an assist on the goal). Alaska would eventually pull back in front, taking the lead on a Brandon Martell shot that was deflected by Ben Lake past Battochio to put the Aces on top for good with a 3-2 lead with 7:46 left in the middle frame (Martell and Scott Wamsganz notched the helpers). That would conclude the scoring entries as the Rush, despite their best efforts late in the third period with an extra-attacker scenario, couldn’t tie the game and fell 3-2 after 60 minutes of regulation.

Danny Battochio staved off 35 of 38 shots, suffering the loss (19-18-4).

Both teams meet for a final time this season, the final road game of the year for the Rush, and for the third time this week in as many nights, with puck drop slated for 9:15 p.m. MST at Sullivan Arena.

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