(RAPID CITY, SD) – Ryan Misiak deflected a Riley Weselowski shot to give the Rapid City Rush a 1-0 lead for the vast majority of regulation, but the Idaho Steelheads countered with a three-goal third period to take a 3-1 win over the Rush on Friday night.
The Rush jumped on first and scored midway through the first period, and that tally would hold as the only one for two periods of play. With 11:19 gone by in the game, the puck was worked up to Riley Weselowski in the Rush attacking zone, and he sent a shot towards the Idaho net. It wasn’t a bomb of a shot, but it got through nonetheless, and Ryan Misiak was there in front of the net to deflect the shot by Steelheads goaltender Landon Bow to give the Rush a 1-0 lead (Weselowski and Logan Nelson assisted).
At the conclusion of the second period, in which neither team scored, Ryan Walters was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct minor that put Idaho on the power play to start the third. Just 1:14 into the frame, Joe Faust fired a blue line shot through traffic that found its way by Rush net-minder, Adam Morrison, to draw the game level at 1-1 (Rob Linsmayer and Jefferson Dahl assisted). Over ten minutes later, a turnover in the Rush attacking zone turned into an opportunity for Anthony Luciani up the ice for Idaho. From the far faceoff circle, Luciani sent a full wind-up slapshot over Morrison’s shoulder to give the Steelheads a 2-1 lead with 8:27 left in the game (Bryce Van Brabant earned the lone assist). Morrison was pulled from the Rush net with 2:08 remaining in the game, and despite stellar puck movement from the Rush and a few close bounces in front, Idaho withstood the barrage and Joe Basaraba added an empty-netter with one second remaining in the game to give Idaho an eventual 3-1 win.
Adam Morrison stopped 26 of 28 shots in the defeat, his eighth straight start (12-11-4).
Both teams conclude their three-game set tomorrow night on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Night”. Puck drop at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center is slated for 7:05 p.m. MST.
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