GAME NOTES: 1/25 vs WICHITA

REGULAR SEASON GAME  FORTY-THREE- 1/25/2020

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

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena

THIS SEASON

Wichita: 45gp, 18-19-8-0, 44pts (5th Mountain)

• Last Game - 1/24 @ Rapid City (4-3 OTL)

Rush: 42gp, 23-16-3-0, 49pts (4th Mountain)

• Last Game - 1/24 vs Wichita (4-3 W/OT)

HEAD TO HEAD - 6 of 10 Games Played

Wichita: 2-3-1-0, 5pts

• Power Play: 17.9% (5/28)
• Penalty Kill: 72.4% (21/29)
• Leading Scorer(s): Patrik Parkkonen/Jason Salvaggio (5pts Each)

Rush: 4-2-0-0, 8pts

• Power Play: 27.6% (8/29)
• Penalty Kill: 82.1% (23/28)
• Leading Scorer(s): Keeghan Howdeshell (6gp, 1g-8ast-9pts)

NOTES

HE’S KILLIN(S) IT!: Supplying the game-winner 5:13 into overtime last night was Rush rookie defenseman Ryker Killins, who has been on a heater as of recently. Prior to last week, coincidentally against the Thunder, Killins hadn’t ignited the goal lamp since October 13th at Tulsa, ending a personal drought of 23 games that came over the course of the team’s last 35. Since scoring against Wichita last Wednesday, Killins now has 3 goals in his last 5 games, all coming on the man-advantage.

ANOTHER GORILLA TOSSED: Rush rookie defenseman Eric Israel came into last night’s game against Wichita with 12 points as a professional in 33 games. That all changed in an instant in the second period, as Keeghan Howdeshell his Israel on the back door with 3:41 gone by to put the Rush up 2-0, scoring his first goal as a professional hockey player. Israel now has 5 points (1g-4ast) in his last 7 games, and 14 points (1g-13ast) in 34 games.

SMERECK HAS THE POWER: Rush defenseman Jalen Smereck has been an anchor for the Rush on the blue line in the short amount of time he’s been in the Black Hills this season. In 9 games with the Rush, Smereck is just shy of a point-per-game pace with 8 points to his credit, 6 of which have come on the power play (1g-5ast). Speaking of the power play...

POWER SURGE: After last night, the Rush have scored on the power play in four of their last seven games, and are now tied for fourth in the ECHL with 36 power play goals through 42 games this season. What’s so impressive is two-fold. First, the Rush are 6/13 against Wichita in their last two meetings, both 3 power play goal performances, clocking in at 46.2%. On top of that, the 36 power play goals through 42 games this season is just 6 off of all of last year’s total of 42, which was 23rd out of 27 teams in the ECHL.

GET THE FIRST WORD: The Rush have made a habit of scoring the game’s first goal, and it’s been a major part of their success this season. Last night was the 25th instance of the season in which the Rush scored first,  and with the win improved to 19-4-2-0 on the season in that scenario. To put that in perspective, the Rush scored first 28 times all of last season and went 19-7-0-0.

WE’RE GOING STREAKING!: Only one player carries a statistical streak into tonight’s second of three matchups against the Thunder:

• Keeghan Howdeshell - has points in three straight games (3gp, 2g-4ast-6pts)