POULSEN’S BAR-DOWN SHOT GETS RUSH OVERTIME WIN

(BOISE, ID) – Tyler Poulsen dangled in front of the Idaho Steelheads net, and rang a shot off the bar and in to give the Rapid City Rush a 3-2 overtime victory over the Steelheads on Saturday night.  The win gave the Rush a 1-1-1-0 record in the three-game series, and coupled with a Kansas City Mavericks regulation win over the Utah Grizzlies, keeps the Rush at pace four points behind the Mavericks for the final playoff spot in the Mountain Division race with 18 games remaining.

For the first time in the week’s series, the Rush jumped on the board first, and took a two goal lead into the intermission.  With 12:31 gone by in the contest, Michael Turner got the Rush on the board when he motored through the neutral zone past Ondrej Vala, and powered towards the net.  Turner played it on net, and it trickled by Steelheads goalie Ryan Faragher to give the Rush an early 1-0 lead (the goal was unassisted).  Darby Llewellyn capped off the first period with a late power play goal on the second Rush power play to double the advantage after 20 minutes.  With 1:55 left in the first, Richard Coyne pass down low to Chris Leibinger in the near corner, who immediately zipped it to Llewellyn in the slot area, finishing with a wrist shot by Faragher’s blocker to make it 2-0 Rapid City (Leibinger and Coyne assisted).  Rush net-minder Adam Carlson stopped all 12 shots he saw in the first period.

Idaho countered with a pair of goals in the second period to square the game up heading into the final frame.  Just shy of the midway point of the contest at the 9:20 mark of the 2nd, Alexander Dahl came into the Rush zone with speed, then cut down the center lane.  Dahl had time and space to shoot, and rifled it by Carlson’s shoulder to cut the Rush lead to 2-1 (Geoff Crisfield had the lone assist).  Elgin Pearce completed the comeback and tied the game with 7:01 left in the period.  His initial shot was blocked by a defender in the slot area, but he then picked up his rebound, and despite Carlson stopping his initial shot, he potted the loose change to square the game at 2-2 (Dahl and Nolan Gluchowski assisted).

Both teams skated to a scoreless deadlock in the third, but it certainly didn’t come without fireworks, as the rivals combined for 29 shots on net, including a 2-on-0 breakaway for Tyler Poulsen and Pierre-Luc Mercier that was denied by Faragher.  For a second night out of three games, the Rush and Steelheads went to overtime.

This time, the visitors picked up the second point, doing so on the first career overtime winner for Tyler Poulsen.  With 2:47 left in overtime, Justin Faryna entered the attacking zone, and worked it to Poulsen on the blue line as he entered. Poulsen maneuvered towards the net, dangled in front of Faragher, and banked the puck off the bar and in to give the Rush a much-needed second point on a 3-2 overtime win (Faryna and Blake Heinrich assisted).

Adam Carlson picked up the win, going 1-0-1-0 on the week, stopping 34 of 36 shots in the victory (14-13-3-2).

The Rush now head back home for their first-ever matchups against the Atlanta Gladiators, beginning a three-game series next week.  Game one is scheduled for Wednesday, February 20th, marking the second-ever “School Day Game” for the Rush, and an early 6:05 p.m. puck drop at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

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