REGULAR SEASON GAME  THIRTY - 12/27/2019

Rapid City Rush vs Wichita Thunder - 7:05 p.m. MDT

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena

THIS SEASON

Wichita: 32gp, 14-13-5-0, 33pts (T-3rd Mountain)

• Last Game - 12/22 vs Allen (3-2 W/OT)

Rush: 29gp, 15-11-3-0, 33pts (T-3rd Mountain)

• Last Game - 12/21 @ Allen (5-2 L)

HEAD TO HEAD - 2 of 10 Games Played

Wichita: 2-0-0-0, 4pts

• Power Play: 27.3% (3/11)
• Penalty Kill: 75% (6/8)
• Leading Scorer(s): Stefan Fournier (2gp, 2goals)

Rush: 0-2-0-0, 0pts

• Power Play: 25% (2/8)
• Penalty Kill: 72.7% (8/11)
• Leading Scorer(s): Keeghan Howdeshell (2gp, 3assists)

NOTES

A PAIR OF HELPERS: Two of the bright spots from the last meeting against the Allen Americans were rookie forward Keeghan Howdeshell and defenseman Myles McGurty, who chipped in with an assist on both Rush goals in the team’s 5-2 loss. For Howedeshell, he now has three multi-point performances on the season, and 9 points (4g-5ast) in his last 8 games, only failing to register a point in a pair of those contests. For McGurty, it’s his second multi-point outing of the season, both of them good for a pair of assists. McGurty is now tied for second among Rush defenseman in scoring with Ryker Killins (both 1g-12ast-13pts), and is one point off of Trey Phillips for the defenseman scoring lead on the team.

I’M A MAN, I’M 40!: For just the third time this season, the Rush registered 40 shots or more in a game. Despite the high shot output on each of those three occasions, the Rush have only managed to snag a point in one of them, and are currently 0-2-1-0 when pelting the opposition’s net-minder with 40 or more shots. The only time 40+ shots, in this case 42, resulted in a point for the Rush was a 4-3 overtime loss at Idaho on November 27th.

SHOOT YOUR SHOT: Building off of the above metric, last Saturday’s loss to the Americans was just the fifth time this season that the Rush outshot an opponent in a game. Despite owning the offensive battle in that respect, the Rush are .500 in such scenarios, going 2-2-1-0 in that situation.

HOME ICE SHIFT: Rivalries come with inexplicable trends sometimes, and the former CHL/current Mountain Division rivalry of the Rush and Thunder gives us exactly that. Since 2017-18, the Rush are 0-10-1-0 when playing in INTRUST Bank Arena, but when in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena, the Rush are 4-2-0-0 and have scored 20 goals in 6 games against the Thunder, while holding them to to 2 goals or less in half of the meetings.

WE’RE GOING STREAKING!: Only one Rush player carries an active statistical streak into tonight’s first showdown against the Thunder:

• Stephane Legault - has points in three straight games (3gp, 1g-2ast-3pts)