(RAPID CITY, S.D.) – Brad Arvanitis made 34 saves and Kenton Helgesen had two assists, but the Rapid City Rush were beaten in overtime by the Atlanta Gladiators, 3-2, Sunday afternoon at The Monument Ice Arena. The Rush picked up a point in the OT loss and now have points in 14 of their past 16 games.
Atlanta opened the scoring in the first period when Billy Constantinou sprung Hugo Roy for a breakaway down the left wing. Roy deked from his forehand to his backhand and flipped the puck over the outstretched pad of Arvanitis, giving the Gladiators a 1-0 lead.
The Rush answered in the second period after Helgesen fed Max Coatta in front of the net. Coatta stuffed a shot past the glove side of Chris Nell and the game was tied at two.
Rapid City struck again just 25 seconds later when Colton Leiter glided below the goal and worked his way to the left circle. He fired a shot through the short side of Nell and the Rush took the lead, 2-1.
Atlanta evened the score in the third period after the Rush had taken a penalty. With an extra attacker on ahead of Rapid City touching the puck, Constantinou fed Cody Sylvester for a one-timer from the right circle that he cranked home, tying the score at two.
The game would remain tied for the remainder of regulation and eventually progressed to overtime. In the opening minute of OT, Rapid City turned the puck over in the neutral zone which led to Roy speeding in with a breakaway. His scoring chance was broken up from behind by Coatta but he left a drop pass for Mitchell Hoelscher who snuck a shot through Arvanitis for the game-winner and Atlanta took it, 3-2.
Arvanitis made 34 saves, Helgesen had two assists and Coatta netted his 20th goal of the season. Rapid City picked up a point with the overtime loss and moved to 32-21-5-5 while Atlanta improved to 40-20-3-1.
The Rush now trail the division-leading Utah Grizzlies by three points with one game in hand. Rapid City will hit the road for three games at Utah next week, beginning on Wednesday night. Puck drop at Maverik Center in West Valley City is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
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