RUSH POWER PLAY SLUDGES OILERS FOR FIRST WIN

(TULSA, OK) – Keeghan Howdeshell, Peter Quenneville, and Giovanni Fiore headlined a 3/6 power play for the Rapid City Rush, along with nine other teammates to hit the scoresheet as the Rapid City Rush defeated the Tulsa Oilers by a 5-3 score on Sunday afternoon. The win gives the Rush their first of the 2019-20 season, and gives the team a 1-1-1-0 finish in their grueling three-game-three-night-three-city series to start the year.

The Rush roared out to a 3-0 after 20 minutes of play, particularly in part to their prowess on the power play. Keeghan Howdeshell started things off with his first goal as a professional 11 seconds into the first Rush power play of the game.  With 3:59 gone by, Howdeshell took a pass on the near side of the Oilers zone and fired a shot off the post and in past Oilers goalie Olle Eriksson Ek, giving the Rush an early 1-0 lead (Myles McGurty and Tyler Poulsen assisted).  Peter Quenneville kept the power play hot for the Rush on the third man-advantage of the game with a highlight reel goal in the second half of the frame. With 5:43 left, Quenneville took a rebound in close, stickhandled between his legs and fired a shot over Eriksson Ek to double the Rush lead to 2-0 (Ryker Killins and Jalen Smereck assisted). Exactly 2:04 later, Tyler Coulter tripled the lead with a backhand shot off the back bar over Eriksson Ek’s shoulder, giving the Rush a 3-0 lead with 3:39 left in the period (Brennan Saulnier and Dane Birks assisted).

Giovanni Fiore provided the only goal in the second period between both teams, but it once again came on the power play. With 9:42 left in the frame, Quenneville found Fiore down “Main Street” in the Oilers zone with time and space to operate. Fiore fired a laser over Eriksson Ek’s blocker to quadruple the Rush advantage to 4-0 heading into the third.

Tulsa found life early in the third thanks to Danny Moynihan, and used that to start a late rally. Exactly 78 seconds into the final period, Moynihan finished a rush with former Alaska teammate Charlie Sampair, and fired a shot off the post and past Rush net-minder Tyler Parks to get Tulsa on the board, trailing 4-1 (Sampair had the lone assist). Ryker Killins answered almost immediately for the Rush, firing a blue line shot through traffic that whizzed under Eriksson Ek’s pads 1:04 later to re-stablish the four-goal lead at 5-1 (Fiore and Dancs assisted). Deven Sideroff then returned fired over three minutes later when his shot deflected off of a Rush defender and squeaked by Parks, cutting the Rush lead to 5-2 with 14:32 left in regulation (Steven Ruggiero and Ryan Tesink assisted). Making a late press, Dakota Joshua scored the first goal of his professional career with a back-hand wrap around to bring Tulsa within two with 2:01 to play (Moynihan and Miles Liberati assisted). Despite Eriksson Ek’s departure from the Oilers net for the extra skater, Parks and the Rush held on and came out with a 5-3 victory, their first win of the season.

Tyler Parks stopped 36 of 39 shots on net, earning his first victory of the season (1-0-1-0).  The Rush power play finished 50% (3/6) on the night, and held Tulsa without a power play goal on as many penalty kills. Twelve Rush players hit the score sheet, with three earning more than one point.

The Rush continue their series with the Oilers this coming Saturday, October 19th. Puck drop at the BOK Center is slated for 6:05 p.m. MDT.

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