RUSH GET FINAL WORD AGAINST MALLARDS

(MOLINE, IL) – Aaron Boyd notched his first pro goal, Mitch Nardi notched his first professional assist, and Alec Baer provided the eventual game-winning tally in the third period, but Christian Frey stole the show for the Rapid City Rush, turning aside all but one of 53 shots to power his team to a 4-1 win over the Mallards on Wednesday night. Tonight’s game served as the final matchup ever between the long-time rivals dating back to their CHL days.

Quad City struck first and provided the only goal of the opening 20 minutes. With 13:00 gone by, Matt Pohlkamp was all alone in front of the Rush net, and took a Chris Izmirlian centering pass and tapped it by Rush net-minder Christian Frey to give the Mallards a 1-0 lead after one period (Izmirlian and Alex Globke had the assists). That was the only goal Frey gave up in the game, finishing with 52 saves on 53 shots.

Aaron Boyd notched his first goal as a professional in the second period to deadlock the game heading into the final period. With 8:57 gone by in the second, Dante Salituro, in his first game back from the AHL, found Boyd in front of the Mallards net virtually uncontested. Boyd deflected the puck by Mallards goalie C.J. Motte to square the game at 1-1 heading into the final 20 minutes (Salituro and Josh Elmes assisted).

Alec Baer broke the deadlock in the opening minutes of the third, and the Rush wouldn’t look back. With 5:57 gone by in the final period, Ian Brady feathered a pass on the left wing wall to Baer, who waltzed down an open lane to the slot area. Baer fired a shot that got deflected by a Mallards defenseman and arced over Motte to give the Rush a 2-1 lead (Brady had the lone assist). With 8:25 left in a one-goal game, Garrett Klotz was assessed a 5-minute major penalty for charging, and moments later a 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct and was ejected from the contest. The Mallards went on a five-minute major power play for the vast majority of regulation, but Frey and company turned aside each chance, and preserved the lead. Within the last 50 seconds of the game, the Rush received an empty-net goal from Peter Sivak to make it a 3-1 affair, and then a 180-foot goal from Brayden Sherbinin catching Motte in “no man’s land” attempting to come to the bench for the extra skater, giving the Rush an eventual 4-1 win to conclude their long-standing rivalry (Baer assisted Sivak’s tally, while Mitch Nardi and Riley Weselowski assisted Sherbinin’s tally, with Nardi picking up his first pro point with his assist).

Christian Frey stopped all but one of 53 shots on net, both career highs in the win (5-14-2-1).

The Rush play their final games of the season this weekend in Tulsa against the Oilers. Puck drop for the final showdowns between the Mountain Division rivals is slated for 6:05 p.m. MST at the BOK Center.

######