LATE HEROICS GIVE RUSH FOUR STRAIGHT WINS

(RAPID CITY, SD) – Mike Hedden deflected a Peter Quenneville shot with 12.6 seconds left in the game to force overtime, eventually won for a third time by Hunter Garlent to give the Rapid City Rush a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Kansas City Mavericks on Saturday night. With the victory, the Rush have now won four in a row, win the series against the Mavericks, and look for their first series sweep of the season tomorrow afternoon.

For a fourth straight game, the Rush netted the first goal of the contest. With 11:13 gone by in the first period, Ian Edmondson crept off the blue line and hit Peter Quenneville with a pass behind the net. Quenneville dished a pass from behind the net to Peterson, who rotated to the blue line and rifled a shot past Mavericks goalie Matt Ginn to give the Rush an early 1-0 lead (Quenneville and Edmondson assisted).

The Rush thought they had a 2-0 lead after the midway point of the second period. However, what would’ve been Cedric Montminy’s 11th goal of the year and Darren Brady’s first ECHL assist was waved off due to goaltender interference. With some momentum following the overturned goal, Kansas City caught a break when a Rush forward lost an edge in neutral ice, creating a two-on-one break. Bryan Lemos deferred to his Captain, Rob Bordson, who tucked a backdoor pass behind Rush net-minder Adam Carlson, squaring the game at 1-1 with 6:16 left in the second (Lemos had the lone assist).

Kansas City earned their first lead of the weekend in the third period, but the Rush channeled some late heroics to force extracurricular activity. With 9:12 left in the game, Brodie Reid took a neutral zone turnover and carried it into the Rush zone, dropping back to Marcus Crawford on the blue line. Crawford fired a skipping shot through a screened Carlson to push the Mavericks on top, 2-1 (Reid and Bordson assisted).

Then, chaos.

With 18 seconds left in the game, Avery Peterson won an offensive zone draw and the Rush worked offensive zone passing to a tee. Butrus Ghafari threaded a pass down low for Tyler Coulter, who immediately tapped the puck to Peter Quenneville in the high slot. Quenneville unleashed a rocket that deflected off of Mike Hedden and past Ginn, squaring the game at 2-2 with 12.6 seconds remaining (Quenneville and Coulter assisted). Overtime was on the horizon for a second time in three games for the Rush.

Hunter Garlent previously came into the game with two overtime winners, both coming on home ice. Tonight, he added a third on an individual effort to give the Rush the second point. With 3:44 left in overtime, Garlent stripped a Mavericks skater of the puck, and went full steam ahead, all alone, over all three lines and into the Mavericks zone. After Ginn stopped him in close range multiple times, Garlent settled a rebound and fired it past the fallen goaltender, giving the Rush the win by a final score of 3-2.

Adam Carlson, starting for a fifth consecutive game, stopped all but a pair of 40 shots on net, winning his fourth straight game (9-5-1-0).

The Rush continue their eight-game homestand and conclude their “three-in-three” series against the Kansas City Mavericks tomorrow afternoon. Puck drop for the finale is slated for 4:05 p.m. MDT. The finale is our annual “Faith and Family Night”! Come celebrate faith, fellowship, and Rush hockey at the game tomorrow!

#################