GAME NOTES: February 24 - Rush at Greenville Swamp Rabbits

(GREENVILLE, S.C.) - The Rapid City Rush, proud affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames, meet the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at Bon Secours Wellness Arena tonight at 5:05 p.m.

The Rush fell 5-1 to the Swamp Rabbits on Wednesday night, but look to spoil the night in front of an anticipated large crowd at "The Well" this evening. 

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RUSH LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK, END SEVEN-GAME SLIDE

The Rapid City Rush gave up five straight goals to start Wednesday’s game and were unable to mount a comeback against Greenville, despite Blake Bennett’s late powerplay goal. The loss has dragged Rapid City’s losing streak to seven games, with each of the last five losses coming against top-five teams in the ECHL standings. The Rush had only lost two non-divisional games until Wednesday, and still managed to outshoot the Swamp Rabbits 35-29. The Rush are 2-7-0 in the month of February with three games remaining until March. 

SOME UNFORTUNATE STATISTICS

The Rush have been outscored 33-14 by opponents in their seven-game slide. After a Utah win, the Rush are nine points away from the final playoff spot in the division, and after a Wichita win, the Rush are three-points deep in the division’s cellar. The Rush play five more non-divisional contests before wrapping up the year with 17-straight games against Mountain Division teams, but the Rush have the fewest wins in the division with 10. 

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE

Things are not all grim for the Rush though. Rapid City has scored four powerplay goals on 21 tries in their seven-game skid, and has had three leads in those seven games. The Rush have tied or outshot their opponents in six of the seven games. Utah has pulled ahead of Allen for the division’s last playoff spot and the Rush have six games left against the Grizzlies (still controlling their own destiny head-to-head vs. Utah). Rapid City has also suffered only one road sweep this season (Jan. 24-27 at Utah). 

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THEY WEARING?

It’s Military Appreciation Night in Greenville and the Swamp Rabbits will be wearing USA jerseys inspired by the The Mighty Ducks: D2 movie. The Rush are anticipating wearing Iceland-themed jerseys as Team Iceland was the Team USA rival in the plot of the movie. If everything goes according to plan, the Rush will wear white and the Swamp Rabbits will wear blue. 

PAWLOSKI’S WEDNESDAY

Jason Pawloski stopped all 11 shots he faced in Wednesday’s game, after coming in midway through the game. We’ve seen Pawloski exclusive in relief roles as he has not started since Jan. 6 in Tulsa. While the Rush lost that game, Pawloski made 41 saves. He holds a 2-1-0 record overall in three starts this season and .910 save percentage this season.

LOOKING TO RE-CAPTURE ROAD MAGIC

The Rush are two wins away from equaling last season’s road win total (13). Until the Utah series, the Rush had not been swept in a series on the road. The Rush were 8-7-1 on the road until the turn of the calendar year and since then are 3-7-0 away from The Monument. After this set of games, the Rush only have eight road games remaining, including a five-game road stretch in March from Utah to Kansas City.

BENNETT KEEPS BUZZING

Blake Bennett’s powerplay goal on Wednesday night now gives him 21 goals on the season. The rookie from AIC has led the goal-scoring charge practically all season for the Rush and has had three two-goal games this season. The Grand Island, N.Y. native is also the team leader in powerplay goals with six. 

MULTI-POINT SCORERS IN THE LAST THREE

Logan Nelson, James Hardie, and Blake Bennett are the only Rush skaters that have more than a single-point over the last three games. Nelson and Hardie both scored and assisted in the last three, while Bennett has scored twice. The Rush have evenly distributed the offensive production in February through. 15 different players had a point in the Maine series, and 14 different players have points in the course of the last three games.

ON TO THE WEEKEND!

The Rush are 11-10-1 in Saturday and Sunday games this season, and look to keep the winning weekend record intact ahead of tonight’s showdown with Greenville. 

GOING FAST

The Rush team had the chance to tour the Spire Motorsports race shop in Mooresville, N.C. on Friday morning. The Spire team features three full-time NASCAR Cup Series teams and four full-team NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams. Corey LaJoie, the numbery-7 Chevorlet driver for Spire, finished fourth in the Daytona 500 on Monday, and the Rush had the chance to see the fourth-place machine. Some teams members, including Head Coach Scott Burt, even climbed into a car through the window. 

WELL, WELL, WELL

The Rush are 0-3-1 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena all-time. The Rush haven’t defeated Greenville since a 2-1 thriller on March 6, 2021. Former Rush play-by-play voice Mark Binetti was still with Rapid City then. He is now the voice of the Swamp Rabbits. 

ROUGH AND TUMBLE FORECAST?

The Rush have not had a fighting major since February 2 against Maine (Zack Hoffman), the longest stretch of the year without a fight. Rapid City fought six times in November and December with nine showdowns in January. The Rush are 7-9-0 this season when taking a fighting major.