(RAPID CITY, SD) – Gustav Bouramman broke a 1-1 deadlock with 15 minutes left in the game to give the Rapid City Rush a 2-1 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Saturday night. The win gives the Rush a clean sweep of the Grizzlies in three games this week. The game also marks the final head-to-head meeting between the two teams. The Rush finished 8-3-0 against the Grizzlies, winning 8 of the last 9 meetings in the series.
For a second straight game, the Grizzlies jumped on the board first, but both teams left deadlocked at 1-1 after 20 minutes. Austin Ortega gave the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead when he deflected a Sam Windle blue line shot by Rush net-minder Christian Frey with 4:37 gone by in the first period (Windle and Alex Dostie assisted). After the midway point of the period, the Rush earned their first power play of the night and hit pay-dirt to tie the game up. With 7:35 left in the first, Jack Walker fired a shot from the right wing circle of the Grizzlies zone, and had his shot initially stopped by Utah goalie Joel Rumpel. The rebound came right to Kenton Miller in front of his crease, and Miller finished with a backhander for a goal in four straight games to square the game up at 1-1 heading into the intermission (Walker had the lone assist).
Heading into the third, the Rush and Grizzlies were still tied at 1-1, but Gustav Bouramman provided the Rush with the kill-shot on their second power play of the night. With 15:00 left in the game, Bouramman flung a wrister from the point over the shoulder of Rumpel to push the Rush ahead 2-1 over Utah (Daniel Leavens and Riley Weselowski assisted). With 4:52 left in the game, Utah’s Travis Howe was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Rapid City’s Kenton Miller, and it lead to a Rush power play that put the Grizzlies shorthanded for the remainder of the game. It killed whatever momentum the Grizzlies could muster, and while the Rush didn’t score on the extended man-advantage, they did hang on for the 2-1 win, sweeping the Grizzlies in all three games this week.
Christian Frey earned his second win of the season, both against Utah, stopping all but one of 32 shots on net (2-8-1).
The Rush now travel to Wichita to take on the Thunder in the first of a three-in-three next weekend. Puck drop for Friday, February 16th at INTRUST Bank Arena is slated for 6:05 p.m. MST.
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