GAME NOTES: 12/13 vs WHEELING

REGULAR SEASON GAME  TWENTY-SIX - 12/13/2019

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

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena

THIS SEASON

Wheeling: 24gp, 10-10-4-0, 24pts (4th Central)

• Last Game - 12/11 @ Rapid City (4-3 W)

Rush: 25gp, 15-7-3-0, 33pts (2nd Mountain)

• Last Game - 12/11 vs Wheeling (4-3 L)

HEAD TO HEAD - 1 of 3 Games Played

Wheeling: 1-0-0-0

• Power Play: 0% (0/2)
• Penalty Kill: 100% (4/4)
• Leading Scorer(s): Siebenaler/Saracino (2pts Each)

Rush: N/A

• Power Play: 0% (0/4)
• Penalty Kill: 100% (2/2)
• Leading Scorer(s): Chris Leibinger (1gp, 1g-1ast-2pts)

NOTES

RARE OCCURRENCE: For the first time all season, the Rush have fallen in consecutive home games. The last time that happened was between March 22nd and April 5th when the team lost three straight.

WELL THAT WAS FAST: Wednesday night’s first-ever meeting against the Wheeling Nailers saw a lot of crazy hockey, in particular how quickly goals were traded between the teams. There were three exchanges of goals within a minute.  After Chris Leibinger scored the first goal of the game 45 seconds into the contest, Alec Butcher tied the game 22 seconds later. Following zero goals until the third period, Blake Siebenaler gave the Nailers a 2-1 lead before Tyler Poulsen squared the game at 2-2 exactly 42 seconds later. Wheeling took the lead in the midst of an offensive lull, but Trey Phillips squared the game back at 3-3 before Wheeling Captain Nick Saracino earned the game-winner 36 seconds after the fact.

PHILL-ED THE VOID: Speaking of Trey Phillips, the Rush blue liner tied the game late, as mentioned above, scoring his first goal since November 8th against Idaho when he started a two-goal comeback to help the Rush win in a shootout for their fourth of nine straight home wins. Despite the goal-scoring drought, Phillips has been offensively consistent all year. He has 4 points (1g-3ast) in his last six games, and is tied with Ryker Killins for the team lead in scoring amongst defenseman with 13 points in 23 games.

FRIDAY THE 13th: The “Spookiest Day of the Year” is upon us tonight as the Rush rematch the Wheeling Nailers for the second of their three-game series. The Rush Started off unlucky on Friday the 13th in their team’s history, but picked it up in recent seasons. The Rush are 3-4-1-1 when playing on the day of Jason Vorhees, and in the last four instances have won two and earned points in three.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY: In this sense, “softly” might be selling the Rush penalty kill too short, but they are pulling heavy duty this season in the top three of the ECHL. Not only are they ranked third at 87.3% through 25 games, but they’ve allowed the fifth-lowest power play goals this season at 14. Recently, the Rush have only allowed one power play goal in their last four games, going 16/17 in that span.