GAME NOTES: 12/20 @ Allen

REGULAR SEASON GAME  TWENTY-EIGHT - 12/20/2019

Rapid City Rush @ Allen Americans - 6:05 p.m. MDT

Allen Event Center

THIS SEASON

Allen: 28gp, 20-5-3-0, 43pts (1st ECHL)

• Last Game - 12/18 @ Worcester (5-4 W)

Rush: 27gp, 15-9-3-0, 33pts (3rd Mountain)

• Last Game - 12/14 vs Wheeling (4-2 L)

HEAD TO HEAD - 3 of 9 Games Played

Allen: 3-0-0-0, 6pts

• Power Play: 9.1% (1/11)
• Penalty Kill: 87.5% (14/16)
• Leading Scorer(s): Spencer Asuchak (3gp, 1g-3ast-4pts)

Rush: 0-1-2-0, 2pts

• Power Play: 12.5% (2/16)
• Penalty Kill: 90.9% (10/11)
• Leading Scorer(s): Tyler Coulter (3gp, 2g-2ast-4pts)

NOTES

FOLLOW THE LEADER: Entering tonight’s first game against Allen, Rush Captain Peter Quenneville once again sees himself at the top of the ECHL’s scoring leaderboard, tied with Allen’s Ty Sheehy and Reading’s Ralph Cuddemi with 34 points on the season. Quenneville is also the ECHL’s leader with 15 points on the power play, adding to that total with his team-leading fifth power play goal of the season on Saturday night.

HITCH THE TRAILER: In seven of the Rush’s last eight games, the team has either been tied with or trailed their opposition heading into the final period of play. In such games, the Rush posted a record of 2-4-1-0. Overall on the year, when tied after two periods, the Rush are .500 with a 3-3-1-0 record, and when trailing after two are just under .500 at 4-5-1-0. 

SAVE A HORSE, RIDE A COWBOY: Much like the Big & Rich hit, the Rush are riding Keeghan “Cowboy” Howdeshell and his consistent offensive stride. Howdeshell is on the first point streak of his professional career, earning a goal and two assists in his last three games. Howdeshell has points in five of his last six games, and goals in three with 4 goals, 3 assists, and 7 points in that span.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER: Rush net-minder Tyler Parks has had much to celebrate about in this first half of the season, and heading into this weekend, has two more career firsts to celebrate.  On Saturday in the series finale against Wheeling, Parks assisted Keeghan Howdeshell to bring the Rush within striking distance in the third period, earning his first point in his professional goaltending career. Since joining the ECHL, Parks became the fourth goaltender in Rush history to register a point in a game. The last goaltender to do so was Adam Vay, who assisted Peter Sivak’s empty-net goal on January 24, 2017 in a 5-3 win at Allen. The last time a Rush net-minder earned a point at home was when Danny Battochio assisted Brian O’Rourke’s shorthanded empty-net goal to seal a 5-2 win against the Colorado Eagles. On top of celebrating his first career point, Parks also received his first career AHL call-up, and will head to Tucson for their home series against Ontario tonight.

WE’RE GOING STREAKING!: Only one player carries a statistical streak into tonight’s series-opener against Allen:

• Keeghan Howdeshell - has points in three straight games (3gp, 1g-2ast-3pts