GAME NOTES: October 31 - Rush vs. Kansas City Mavericks

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) - The Rapid City Rush, proud affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames, face off with the Seattle Kraken's ECHL affiliate, the Kansas City Mavericks tonight at 6:05 p.m. MT.

The Rush are 0-2 vs. the Mavericks this season, but lost both games by only a single goal, including an overtime loss on Saturday. 

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 THIRD PERIOD WOES CONTINUE FOR RUSH

Saturday’s 4-3 OT loss to Kansas City seemed to be a mirror image of Friday’s blown two-goal lead for the Rush. Rapid City led 3-2 entering the third period, but gave up a powerplay goal and the subsequent overtime winner to lose their second straight game. Rapid City has not entered a third period trailing this season, but has only scored two third period goals this season. 

BENNY AND THE NET

Rookie forward Blake Bennett has scored in three of the four games to open the season, including back-to-back goal-scoring games last weekend vs. Kansas City. Bennett, a product of AIC, saw limited pro action last year with the Rush, but has blossomed into a weapon on Rapid City’s third line. 

GOOD GUYS IN GOAL

Matt Radomsky and Connor Murphy are the only ECHL goaltending tandem where both goalies have a better-than-.920 save percentage. Murphy stopped 47 of 50 in Friday’s loss to K.C. while Radomsky spurned 42 in Saturday’s OT loss. Both goaltenders are rookies who prior to this October had not seen professional action. 

PENALTIES KILL

The Rush have the unfortunate title of having not spent a game without yielding a powerplay goal to an opponent. Kansas City has scored three powerplay goals in this series alone, including Friday’s game-tying and game-winning goal. Head Coach Scott Burt attributes turnovers and missed clears as the reason for the early-season PK difficulty. 

‘ARDI PARTY

Veteran forward Alex Aleardi continues to be the best statistical player for the Rush this season, leading the team in points, assists, and plus-minus rating. 

SPOOKY SEASON

Weird things happen on Halloween Night and the Rush would love to cast a spell on a K.C.’s magical start to the season. The Mavericks are off to their best start since 2013-14 where they won eight straight before dropping a game. The Rush are a single-standings points ahead of where they were four games in during last season, but on last year’s matching road trip, R.C. dropped three straight to Idaho and struggled to climb out of the early season hole. 

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE MASKED MAN?

You should be. Amongst rookie goaltenders with more than a single game played, Matt Radomsky and Connor Murphy rank one-and-two respectively in save percentage. 

TRICK-OR-TREAT

In nearly an identical split, tonight’s matchup features a pair of top-ten powerplays and a pair of bottom-five penalty kills. Oddly enough, the Rapid City leg of this five-game series saw less than five penalties per game for such prolific powerplays. Still, 33% of all goals scored in the season series have come via special teams between the two clubs, 

BROOMSTICKS

Rapid City was only swept in two home series last year (Toledo and Allen). The longest Rush losing streak at home during last season was only four games and the team earned 20 of its 33 wins at home last year. K.C. swept the Rush at home last weekend and the Rush are now on a four-game home losing streak dating back to last year. 

SPELLBOUND SHOOTING

Rapid City has yet to outshoot an opponent this season, now four games into the year. The Rush have only outshot their opponent in a singular period this year, the first period of the opening game in Iowa (18-7). The Rush were outshot in five-of-six periods vs. the Mavericks at The Monument last weekend, typing the Mavs in the second period of Saturday’s game at nine. 

A LONG-LONG WAY TO GO

The Rush flew from Rapid City to Denver and Denver into Kansas City on Monday to start the road trip. This swing will feature four games in six days over two cities. More mind-boggling is the fact the Rush will close out a five-game set vs. K.C. and turn to playing a four-game set vs. Tulsa. The five-game, same-opponent streak is the longest such streak of any kind for R.C. this season, but there will be one more four-game set vs. Wichita to start December.

WEIL… THAT’S COOL

Weiland Parrish is expected to dress in his 99^th and 100^th professional career game this week. Parrish, an all-SPHL rookie selection in 2022, led the Pensacola Ice Flyers (SPHL) in assists and points in 2021-22 and split time between Pensacola and Rapid City last season. He did not dress in Saturday’s OT loss. 

STOPPING THE FAVORITE PONIES

The Rush surrendered only five points to K.C.’s top scorers last weekend, and Cade Borchardt had three of them. Cole Coskey – who was second in ECHL points entering last weekend – was held scoreless in the Black Hills. The Rush also had a high scoring rate on Saturday vs. their former goaltender Dillon Kelley who was held to a pedestrian .850 save percentage in the win. 

THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER

While the Rush do manage to play a bonus game over the course of October, R.C. has already tied the early-season pace of their 2021-22 team at five points. The Rush, with any standings point over the next two games, can be off to the best six-game start in the Scott Burt era as they look to avoid a three-game skid.