RUSH HANDLE THUNDER, 6-3

(WICHITA, Kan.) – Matt Marcinew and Brett Gravelle each had three points, Adam Carlson made 35 saves and the Rapid City Rush beat the Wichita Thunder 6-3 on Friday night at INTRUST Bank Arena. The Rush extended their point streak to five games with the win.

Rapid City took the lead late in the first period with a power play strike. Rory Kerins fed Logan Nelson at the point and he took a wrist shot from just inside the blue line. It found its way through traffic and past Trevor Gorsuch, putting the Rush on top, 1-0.

They extended that lead in the second after Marcinew threw a puck toward the front of the net that Gravelle knocked out of midair. He grabbed the puck, deked to his forehand and flipped it by Gorsuch to make the score 2-0.

The Rush got another two minutes later when Jon Martin fired a shot from short range that Gorsuch stopped. Ilya Nikolaev followed it with an attempt off the rebound that was turned aside again by Gorsuch but the second rebound found its way to Quinn Wichers. He shot it high past Gorsuch and the Rapid City lead swelled to three.

Wichita then struck for a pair of goals late in the second. First, Michal Stinil buried a slap shot from the left circle on a power play. Then, the Rush turned the puck over in their own zone. It found its way to Peter Bates, who put a move on and slid it under Carlson’s pad, cutting the Rush lead to 3-2.

But Rapid City found some more breathing room in the third period when Gravelle steamed into the attacking zone and sent a pass to the sprinting Jimmy Soper. Soper dragged the puck from his forehand to his backhand and guided it home to extend the lead to 4-2.

Later, Marcinew won a defensive zone faceoff and received a stretch pass from Wichers. He burned down the left wing and into the attacking zone where he loaded up a wrist shot that beat Gorsuch on the far side.

Wichita answered with another power play strike from Stinil but Marcinew tallied an empty net goal with less than two minutes to play, which brought the score to its 6-3 final.

Marcinew finished with two goals and an assist, Gravelle had a goal and two assists and the Rush improved to 32-33-4-0. The Rush will now return home for their final three games of the regular season, all of which will take place against the Idaho Steelheads. The first is on Wednesday night and puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at The Monument Ice Arena.

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