RUSH THROTTLE ACES FOR FIRST WIN OF SEASON

(ANCHORAGE, AK) – Ryan Walters scored a pair of goals, Brayden Low and Josh MacDonald added one as well, and Lindsay Sparks extended his goal and point streaks to 6 and 7 games, respectively, as the Rapid City Rush earned their first win of the season over the Alaska Aces with a 5-1 score on Saturday night.

For the first time this season, the Rush struck first to open the scoring entries. Ryan Walters potted the lone goal at 3:17 of the first period, sending a rebound off of a Josh MacDonald shot by Aces goaltender Kevin Carr to give the Rush a 1-0 lead (MacDonald and Lindsay Sparks assisted, with Sparks extending his point streak to 7 games with the helper).

The energy from the opening period came over, and at the end of 40 minutes, the Rush had tripled their lead. Ryan Walters added a second on the second Rush power play when he one-timed a pass from Lindsay Sparks to double the Rush advantage to 2-0 with 1:56 gone by in the second (Sparks got his second assist on the goal, while Garrett Haar got his first). Brayden Low piled onto the Rush lead when he slammed a rebound from just outside the crease by Kevin Carr with 10:52 left in the second (Nathan Moon and Michael Young registered the helpers).

The Aces grabbed some momentum to start the third period when Tim Coffman fired a turnover in the Rush zone by Rush net-minder Kent Patterson, breaking his shutout and bringing the Aces within two at 3-1 with 1:36 gone by in the final period (the goal was unassisted). Despite the strike, the Rush didn’t let up, and fired back with one of their own to pull away for good exactly 1:25 later. Josh MacDonald recovered an Aces turnover and crept into the slot, firing a shot between the hash marks over Kevin Carr’s glove to re-establish the three-goal Rush lead at 4-1 with 16:59 left in the game (the goal was unassisted). Just before the game ended, Lindsay Sparks, who already extended his point streak earlier in the contest, buried a centering feed from MacDonald to expand his goal-scoring streak to 6 games, bringing the Rush advantage, and our final score, to 5-1 with 6:03 left in the game (MacDonald and Ryan Walters each earned their third points of the game with an assist on the goal).

Kent Patterson stopped all but one of 29 shots in earning his first win, as well as the team’s first win in a full 60 minute effort (1-2-0).

The rubber match concluding the series comes with a 5:05 p.m. MST puck drop tomorrow after noon at Sullivan Arena. Catch the action with Mark Binetti on 100.3 The FOX, the “Official Station of Rush Nation”, or at our official watch party locations in Native New Yorker and Buffalo Wild Wings.

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