Rush Fall In Marathon Shootout To Beast, 3-2
March 29, 2014 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rapid City Rush News Release
(BRAMPTON, ON) - For the second time in this head-to-head series, the Brampton Beast and Rapid City Rush would need more than 60 minutes to decide a winner. Despite a stellar goaltending effort from Tim Boron in the remaining moments of the game, the Rush would lose their second straight to the Beast by another one-goal game, 3-2 in a 13 round shootout.
The Rush put on an offensive clinic in the first 20 minutes, hammering the Beast early and often with shots on net and control in the offensive third of the ice. In a flash, the Rush would jump out to a quick lead thanks to forced turnovers and solid neutral zone passing. Jared Brown was up first, extending his red-hot point streak to 13 games by taking a turnover forced by Justin Sawyer coast-to-coast, burying his shot past Kris Westblom to give the Rush an early 1-0 lead just 3:40 into the game. Exactly 18 seconds later, in his return, Scott Brannon took a centering pass from returning Rush captain Scott Wray and sent past Westblom to give the Rush a solid 2-0 lead, a lead the Rush would take with them into the second period, and subsequently into the third after a scoreless middle frame.
The Beast came out firing in the third period, and quickly got on the board. Jason Pitton would strike first, sending home a pass from Matt Caruana to cut into the Rush lead with a 2-1 score just 1:18 into the third. Moments later, on an unlucky bounce from behind the net, Andrew Fournier would deflect the puck to the back of Tim Boron that deflected in his net, tying the game up with 12:29 left in regulation. Despite a numerous amount of chances for either side, we would remain deadlocked after 60 minutes and head to overtime.
Neither side would be able to solve each other in the extra period, with the Rush coming close to winning the game after a plethora of forced turnovers. Both teams would go to a shootout that would turn into a marathon. The shootout would go to 13 rounds, prompting Ben Power, Jesse Schultz, and Winston Day Chief to all shoot twice, with Schultz and Day Chief coming the closest to scoring in the extra rounds. Laboring through intense pain, Tim Boron stopped 12 shooters in a row, before Scott Howes finally ended the game in the bottom of the 13th round, sending the puck over Boron to give the Beast a 3-2 win and the second point in the standings.
Tim Boron made 35 saves on the evening, receiving just his second loss in overtime on the year (30-12-2). Before Howes scored the game-winner in the 13th round, Boron had stopped 25 consecutive shooters, and 31 of his last 32 after 65 minutes of play. This was the longest game of the season for the Rush, nearly doubling their previous high of a 7 round shootout in Quad City on February 15th. Jared Brown extended his point streak to 13 games, and his goal streak to five (7 G, 8 A, 15 Pts in that span). Scott Brannon scored 18 seconds after Brown in the first period, helping the duo shatter their previous season-high of fastest goals exchanged of 27 seconds. The Rush and Beast conclude their regular seasons on Sunday at 12 PM MST in the Powerade Centre, with the playoffs set to begin next Friday.
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