RUSH EARN A POINT IN OT LOSS

(ALLEN, TX) – Anthony Collins pulled off a ridiculous snipe with 11:34 left in the game to eventually force overtime, but Bryan Moore finished a two-on-one break in overtime to give the Allen Americans the second point, and the overtime win by a 3-2 score over the Rapid City Rush on Saturday night. The overtime loss gives the Rush a 1-1-1 finish in their three-game road trip.

Both teams skated to a scoreless draw after 20 minutes of play, but Allen drew first blood for a second night on the weekend. Just 1:24 into the middle act, Eric Roy stepped into a loose puck in the Rush zone, taking advantage of chaos in front of the Rush net while doing so. Roy fired a shot by a screened Rush net-minder, Christian Frey, to give the Americans a 1-0 lead (Spencer Asuchak and Zach Pochiro were credited with assists). Just over two minutes later, the Rush countered to tie the game up when Peter Sivak took a long pass into the Americans zone, and from the far corner rifled a shot on Allen goalie Jake Paterson from a sharp angle. Paterson made the initial stop, but no one picked up Kenton Miller, who poked the loose change behind Paterson to square the game at 1-1 with 3:36 played in the second (Sivak and Pavel Jenys assisted). Alex Guptill struck against his former team for a second night in a row to put the Americans back on top heading into the final period. With 12:01 remaining in the second, Guptill deflected a loose puck that found its way over Frey’s shoulder, and rolled off of his back and into the net to give back Allen the lead at 2-1 (Dave Makowski and Joel Chouinard assisted).

Anthony Collins led his Rush side back in the third period to tie the game back up, and subsequently force an overtime session with his third goal of the season. With 11:34 remaining in regulation, Collins intercepted a Josh Thrower pass and ripped a sharp-angle shot on Paterson’s net. Collins threaded the needle over his shoulder with one heck of a snipe, squaring the game at 2-2 (the goal was unassisted). Both teams feverishly exchanged scoring chances hoping for a go-ahead goal towards the end of regulation, but could not muster the game-winning tally. For the first time this season, both teams would meet in an overtime game.

Allen hemmed the Rush in their zone for the majority of the extra session, and as a result of their hard work, came out with the win. With 25.8 seconds remaining in overtime, a bad line change by the Rush gave Allen a two-on-one break into their zone. Dave Makowski led the charge, and at the last moment handed off to Bryan Moore on the backdoor. Moore finished with a strike to end the game, and give Allen the second point with a 3-2 overtime win.

Christian Frey suffered the loss, stopping 33 of 36 shots for his third loss after 60 minutes, and his second in the overtime period (3-10-2-1).

The Rush transition back home to begin a busy week of hockey with 4 games in 5 nights in two different cities. The rally begins on home ice when the team hosts the Tulsa Oilers on Wednesday, March 7th. Puck drop at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center is slated for 7:05 p.m. MST.

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