RUSH COMEBACK TO FORCE OVERTIME, GAIN CRUCIAL POINT IN OT LOSS

(BOISE, ID) – Rapid City Rush Captain, and former Idaho Steelhead Riley Weselowski, completed a comeback with 9.3 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, but Charlie Dodero collected the second point with the game-winner for the Steelheads at 1:58 of overtime, giving Idaho a 3-2 win past 60 minutes on Wednesday night.  The game kicked off a three-game series between the teams at CenturyLink Arena this week.  The point, coupled with a Kansas City regulation loss against the Tulsa Oilers, now puts the Rush 3 points behind the Mavericks for the final playoff spot in the Mountain Division with 20 games remaining in the season.

Idaho jumped out to an early lead in a quick time span to eventually take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.  Henrik Samuelsson, in his first game back as a Steelhead this season from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, gave the Steelheads a 1-0 lead at 4:17 of the first when he buried a feed from Reid Petryk from the far corner,  tapping the puck behind Rush net-minder Adam Carlson (Petryk had the lone assist).  Exactly 97 second later, Kyle Schempp added to the lead when he deflected a Charlie Dodero shot at 5:54, bringing the Idaho lead to 2-0 (Dodero and Steve McParland assisted).  Cedric Montminy nearly halved the deficit late in the first period, but his shot clanked off the post, maintaining Idaho’s two-goal lead after one period.

Both teams skated to a scoreless duel in the second, but then the Rush mounted a late comeback to force “free hockey” in Boise.  With Carlson pulled for the extra-attacker, Chris Lebinger pulled the Rush within one with under two minutes remaining.  With 1:23 left, Cedric Montminy patiently played the puck in the slot, and found Lebinger in the slot, finishing with a shot by Steelheads goalie Tomas Sholl to cut the deficit to 2-1 (Montminy and Pierre-Luc Mercier assisted).  Then, following the goal, Henirk Samuelsson was called for a roughing penalty with 42 seconds remaining, putting the Rush, including the extra-attacker, on a 6-on-4 advantage for the remainder of the game.  With 9.3 seconds remaining, Rush Captain Riley Weselowski took a blue line pass from Darby Llewellyn, and rifled a shot through traffic by Sholl, tying the game at 2-2 and forcing overtime (Llewellyn had the lone assist).

The Steelheads staved off the Rush in overtime, and ultimately got the second point in the contest.  With 1:58 gone by in overtime, Charlie Dodero crept off the blue line and backhanded a shot on Carlson, that was initially stopped, but the rebound caromed off of a Rush defender and in, giving Idaho the 3-2 win (White had the lone assist).

Adam Carlson, playing on his 25th birthday, suffered the loss in overtime, stopping 29 of 32 shots in the effort (13-13-3-2).

The Rush continue their three-game series against the Idaho Steelheads on Friday, February 15th.  Puck drop is slated for 7:10 p.m. MST at CenturyLink Arena.

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