(TULSA, Okla.) – Matt Marcinew and Alex Aleardi both scored and Nicholas Latinovich made 36 saves but the Rapid City Rush were beaten by the Tulsa Oilers 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at the BOK Center.
The game remained scoreless until the second period when Marcinew got the lid off the jar. He took a pass in the high slot and buried a wrist shot to the glove side of Daniel Manella, giving Rapid City a 1-0 lead.
Tulsa then answered with a pair of goals to tie and then take the lead. First, with Latinovich scrambling to get back in his net, Karl Boudrias took a pass from Max Golod and snapped it past Latinovich and in, evening the score. Then, Dante Sheriff carried the puck to the left circle and sent a pass to Golod alone in the slot. He one-timed it to the top shelf and the Oilers took a 2-1 lead.
Rapid City evened it up late in the second when it forced a turnover and Logan Nelson nudged the puck to Aleardi, who was streaking up the right wing. Aleardi flicked a wrist shot top shelf and past Manella on the short side to make the score 2-2.
The Oilers regained the lead in the third period while on a power play. Tag Bertuzzi received a pass to the right of the crease, spun and took a shot that was blocked. But the rebound bounced back to him and he slid it under that pads of Latinovich, putting Tulsa on top, 3-2.
It added to that lead later in the period when Bertuzzi won a faceoff back to Boudrias. He slid the puck to Kylor Wall, who cranked a one-timer through traffic and in, pushing the advantage to 4-2.
The Rush pulled Latinovich for an extra attacker late in the third but quickly Tulsa forced a turnover and got the puck to Eddie Matsushima, who slung a shot into the empty net and extended the lead to 5-2.
Latinovich made 36 saves on 40 shots, Aleardi scored for the third straight game and Marcinew netted his team-leading 23rd goal of the season. The Rush dropped to 24-27-1-0 in the loss while Tulsa improved to 18-24-7-1. Rapid City will continue its road swing next weekend with a pair of games in Allen against the Americans. It begins on Saturday night with a 7:05 p.m. CT puck drop at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center.
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