(WEST VALLEY CITY, UT) – Andrew Radjenovic notched a pair of goals, Cedric Montminy notched a pair of assists, and Adam Carlson stopped all but one of 34 shots on goal to lead the Rapid City Rush to a 3-1 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Wednesday night. The win ends the Rush losing streak at three games, and gives the Rush points in four consecutive head-to-head against Utah in the season series.
The Rush jumped on the Grizzlies immediately and took a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Just 2:15 into the action, Utah’s Ryan Misiak committed an egregious turnover to the slot area right to the tape of Rush forward Andrew Radjenovic. The Rush leading scorer’s first shot on Grizzlies goalie Joe Cannata was turned aside, but he pocketed his rebound to give the Rush an early 1-0 lead with his team-leading 13th goal of the season (the goal was unassisted). With 8 minutes left in the first, Cedric Montminy forced a turnover on the near wall of the Grizzlies zone and carried the puck towards the net. At the last moment, Montminy found Tyler Poulsen on the back door, who buried the chance to give the Rush a 2-0 lead (Montminy had the lone assist). Exactly 58 seconds later, Radjenovic capitalized for his second of the game on the first Rush power play of the contest. Just 16 seconds into the advantage, and with 7:02 left in the period, Radjenovic blasted a Cedric Montminy rebound behind Cannata on the back door to make it a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play (Montminy and Riley Weselowski assisted).
Utah cut the deficit to a pair before the second period ran out. With 3:12 left in the second, Cole Ully found a bouncing puck off of a deflected pass down the slot, toe-dragged by a defender, and rifled a shot by Rush net-minder Adam Carlson to make it a 3-1 Rush lead heading into the final period (Joey Raats and Ryan Walters assisted). Both teams failed to score in the final period of play, with the game finishing in a 3-1 final in favor of the Rush.
Adam Carlson stopped all but one of 34 shots on net, earning his ninth win in the process (9-4-2-2).
The Rush will rematch the Grizzlies in the second game of their three-game series on Friday, December 14th. Puck drop for game two is slated for 7:05 p.m. MST at the Maverik Center.
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