(RAPID CITY, S.D.) – The Rapid City Rush struck twice in the third period to force overtime but eventually fell in OT to the Wichita Thunder, 3-2, in front of a sellout Kids Day crowd of 5,118 on Thursday morning at The Monument Ice Arena.
With the Rush trailing, 2-0, early in the third period, Calder Brooks charged into the attacking zone and fed Stephen Baylis above the left circle. Baylis fired a shot that beat Jake Theut high and the lead was cut down to one.
Rapid City tied the game later in the third right after a power play expired. Gabe Chabot hit Baylis on the left circle for a snap shot that ricocheted off a Thunder defenseman on the way in. The puck caromed past Theut and the game was tied at two.
From there it moved to overtime and in the opening minute of OT, the Rush turned the puck over at the blue line which led to a two-on-one break for Wichita. Cam Clarke slid a crossing pass to Michal Stinil who snuck it past Lukas Parik for the game-winning goal.
The Thunder opened the scoring in the first period following a Rapid City defensive zone turnover. Brendan van Riemsdyk fed a pass to a trailing Logan Fredericks who fired a wrist shot that snuck past Parik on the glove side to make it 1-0.
Wichita added to that lead in the second period when van Riemsdyk again controlled the puck in the attacking zone and sent a pass to Garrett Schmitz who was crashing the net. Schmitz swatted the puck out of the air and through the legs of Parik and the score was 2-0.
Baylis had two goals and Parik made 32 saves on 35 shots for the Rush who moved to 22-18-4-2 with the overtime loss. Wichita improved to 18-21-6-0 in the victory. Rapid City will again host the Thunder on Friday night. Puck drop at The Monument Ice Arena is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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