GAME NOTES: 12/11 vs WHEELING

REGULAR SEASON GAME  TWENTY-FIVE - 12/11/2019

Rapid City Rush vs Wheeling Nailers - 7:05 p.m. MDT

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena

THIS SEASON

Wheeling: 23gp, 9-10-4-0, 22pts (4th Central)

• Last Game - 12/8 vs Toledo (5-2 L)

Rush: 24gp, 15-6-3-0, 33pts (2nd Mountain)

• Last Game - 12/7 vs Utah (3-0 L)

HEAD TO HEAD - First-Ever Meeting

Wheeling: N/A

• Power Play: N/A
• Penalty Kill: N/A
• Leading Scorer(s): N/A

Rush: N/A

• Power Play: N/A
• Penalty Kill: N/A
• Leading Scorer(s): N/A

NOTES

THE RUN COMES TO AN END: It took 10 games to happen, but the Rush became the last team in the ECHL to suffer a loss of any kind of home ice this season on Saturday against Utah. In that run on home ice, the Rush outscored their opposition by a 31-22 margin, had one shutout win, saw two players record a hat trick, scored four goals or more in a game half the time,  averaged exactly one power play goal-per-game and went 20% on the man-advantage, and had a penalty kill of 87.2%. Additionally, on four occasions, the team came back in the third period  to either win in that frame, or tie the game up to eventually get the job done in overtime or a shootout.

BLANK STARES: Saturday’s loss also marked the first time this season that the Rush suffered a shutout loss, regardless of location. It ends a streak of 23 straight games with a goal. The loss, at the hands of the Grizzlies, ends streaks of 12 games with a point and 7 consecutive wins against Utah. The last time Utah shut out the Rush in a game was December 15, 2018, in which Kevin Carr stopped all 23 shots he saw. Last season, the Rush suffered a shutout loss 7 times.  The shutout loss also marks the second time that the team has been blanked on the Teddy Bear Toss in 12 seasons, with the last one coming on December 13, 2013 in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Quad City Mallards.

IF YOU AIN’T FIRST, YOU’RE LAST: It was a cool trend to point out before, but the Rush are a completely different team when they provide the game’s first goal. The team has done so in 15 instances through 24 games this year, and boasts an 11-2-2-0 record in that scenario. What’s crazy is that in 72 games last season, the Rush only managed to score first 28 times, meaning the Rush are over halfway to that total with 48 games left. Additionally, in those 28 games last season, the Rush went 19-7-0-2.

LOOK GUYS, IT’S A NEW OPPONENT: For the first time ever in team history, the Rapid City Rush and Wheeling Nailers will meet on the same sheet of ice for a game. Since joining the ECHL in the 2014-15 season, the Rush will have played 12 new teams by the end of tonight’s first game in this series. In such first encounters, the Rush hold a record of 2-8-1-0, with the only two wins coming against the Indy Fuel and Cincinnati Cyclones.