RUSH POWER PLAY BLASTS STEELHEADS

(BOISE, ID) – Brenden Walker had a four-point night (1g-3ast), and captain Ryan Walters added a pair of tallies, but the Rapid City Rush power play stole the show going 3/4 against the Idaho Steelheads, powering the Rush to a 5-2 win on Wednesday night.

Idaho struck first just 2:01 into the period when Kellan Lain took a bouncing puck in the low slot and sent a shot by Adam Morrison, putting the Steelheads on the board with a 1-0 lead (Connor Chatham and Joe Faust notched the assists). Moments later, Josh MacDonald evened the game up 32 seconds into the first Rush power play of the game, sending a backhander by Idaho goaltender Philippe Desrosiers to make it 1-1 with 5:36 gone by in the first (Brenden Walker earned the lone helper). Almost five minutes later, in a bout of four-on-four hockey, Ryan Walters coasted over all three lines and ripped a wrist shot by Desrosiers to put the Rush up top with a 2-1 lead with 9:52 remaining in the period (Dysin Mayo earned the assist, his first point with the Rush). Following the goal, Desrosiers was replaced by Branden Komm for the remainder of regulation, finishing with 2 saves on 4 shots in 10:08 of playing time.

The Rush power play continued its red-hot night with a pair of tallies to blow open the Rush lead. Justin Hache notched his second goal of the season just five seconds into the fourth Rush power play of the game off of a faceoff win with a blue line shot by Komm to put the Rush up 3-1 5:22 into the second (Brenden Walker and Dysin Mayo both earned their second points of the game with assists). Capping off the man-advantage tallies was Ryan Walters, who notched his second goal of the night while taking a Brenden Walker pass through the slot and backhanding the puck by Komm to push the Rush lead to 4-1 with 10:34 left in the second (Walker notched his third assist of the game on the power play goal).

Austin Lotz came into the game in 9:33 of relief for Adam Morrison, who needed to be tended in the locker room, and Idaho brought the game within two while the switch took place. With 5:45 gone by in the final period, Joe Faust sent a centering pass from the slot by Lotz to cut the Steelheads deficit to 4-2 (Travis Ewanyk and Kyle Jean assisted). Brenden Walker capped off his four-point night with an empty-netter with 50.7 seconds left, and sealed a 5-2 Rush win (Zach Tolkinen and Ryan Misiak assisted the final goal).

In 50:27 of work, Adam Morrison earned the win and stopped 22 of 23 shots in the process (5-2-2).

Both teams will rematch on Friday, December 16th, at CenturyLink Arena, with puck drop slated for 7:10 p.m. MST.

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