(INDEPENDENCE, Mo.) – Gabe Chabot scored twice and the Rapid City Rush brought themselves within one goal late in the third period but ultimately fell short against the Kansas City Mavericks, 4-3, Friday night at Cable Dahmer Arena.
With the Rush trailing, 4-1, in the second period, Rapid City forced a turnover and Brett Van Os and Chabot gained the zone with an odd-man break. Van Os fed Chabot crashing the net, who deked to his backhand and slid the puck past Andrew Shortridge to make the score 4-2.
Late in the third period with Rapid City on the penalty kill, Kansas City retreated toward its defensive zone to regroup. Chabot knifed into a passing lane, intercepting a pass that was intended for Koltrane Wilson, and quickly cranked a slap shot on net. It beat Shortridge high, cutting the Kansas City lead down to one.
The Rush would then pull David Tendeck for an extra attacker but could not strike again as they ultimately fell to the Mavericks, 4-3.
Kansas City started fast and netted three goals in the first period. First, Darik Angeli finished after a chaotic sequence in front of the net, then Nick Pastujov got a tap-in power play goal and Angeli cashed in one more time in the final minutes of the frame to put the Mavericks on top, 3-0.
Rapid City got on the board early in the second period with a power play tally. Logan Nelson took a pass at the right circle and loaded up a snap shot that got through Shortridge low on the glove side to make it 3-1.
The Mavericks pushed the lead to 4-1 when Angeli buried a slap shot through traffic from the left circle later in the second, giving him a hat trick.
Chabot scored twice, Tendeck made 26 saves in the loss and Nelson netted his 12th goal of the season. Rapid City fell to 21-17-3-2 in the loss while Kansas City improved to 20-21-1-0.
The Rush and Mavericks will meet again on Saturday night. Puck drop at Cable Dahmer Arena is scheduled for 7:05 PM CST.
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