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ECHL Rapid City Rush

Rush Game Notes

January 5, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Rapid City Rush News Release


Where We Left Off: First of the New Year - Scott Brannon and Kale Kerbashian each notched a goal and an assist for the Rapid City Rush, but the 216 penalty minutes they shared with the Tulsa Oilers became the topic of conversation as the Rush defeated the Oilers by a 4-3 score, claiming the victory in their first game of 2016 on Saturday night. Both teams saw their offense go to work quickly, with two goals split between the teams coming within the first 78 seconds of the game. Nineteen seconds into the action, Tulsa ignited the goal lamp and gained an early 1-0 lead as Adam Pleskach notched his second in as many games, pounding a loose puck by Rush net-minder, Danny Battochio (Christophe Lalancette and Nathan Lutz recorded the assists). Exactly 59 seconds later, Garrett Clarke sent the rebound of a Brian O'Rourke shot by Oilers goaltender, Kevin Carr, to equalize the game at 1-1 on his first goal in a Rush uniform (O'Rourke and Scott Brannon notched the helpers). Just at the midway point of the first, Rush captain Winston Day Chief gave the Rush their first lead of the game on his team's first power play of the night, slamming a bouncing puck by Carr to give the Rush a 2-1 advantage heading into the intermission (Kale Kerbashian and Taylor Doherty recorded the assists). In the second period, the Rush had the tall task of killing off a 5-on-3 Tulsa power play for a full two minutes in the latter half of the frame. Shortly after successfully killing of the two-man-advantage, Phil Brewer was found alone in front and beat Battochio point blank to tie the game up at 2-2 with 3:31 left in the period (Axel Blomqvist and Matt Konan earned the assists). In the final 20 minutes, the Rush scored twice within 28 seconds to separate themselves from the Oilers, and eventually rode that offense to the win. On the final Rush power play of the game, Kale Kerbashian rifled a wrist shot from the near faceoff circle top-shelf to give the Rush a 3-2 lead with 12:18 left in the game (Spencer Pommells and James Melindy notched the assists). Less than a half a minute later, Taylor Doherty fired a shot through traffic from the blue line that was deflected by Scott Brannon, beating Carr to double the Rush advantage to 4-2 with 11:50 left in the game (Doherty recorded his second assist, while Mikhail Stefanovich earned his first on the goal). Tulsa did not go quietly and came back within striking distance on their final power play of the night. With 9:43 left in the game, Adam Pleskach got his second goal of the night by deflecting a Christophe Lalancette shot from the near wall of the Rush zone, bringing Tulsa's deficit to 4-3 (Lalancette got his second assist of the game on the goal, while Mathieu Brisebois garnered his first on the goal). From the last 24.7 seconds of the game to the end of regulation, both teams' hostility reached a boiling point and fights broke out all over the ice. When all was said and done at triple-zero on the game clock, 142 of the game's 216 PIM assessed between both clubs were handed out, 82 of which belonged to the Oilers with the remaining 60 handed to the Rush. After the calamity was resolved, the Rush celebrated their win in their final game against the Oilers this season by the count of 4-3.

You Get a Penalty! And You Get a Penalty! - Similar to the Oprah Winfrey meme that has populated the internet, it seemed that penalty minutes were handed out with reckless abandon at the conclusion of Saturday's game against the Tulsa Oilers. When the dust settled at the end of the chaos, 142 of the game's 216 PIM's were assessed to both clubs, which resulted in five total suspensions between each team. The 216 PIM's between the teams is not only the most in an ECHL game since January of 2012, but is also a Rush franchise record. Additionally, the 109 PIMs assessed to Tulsa and the 107 assessed to the Rush are both franchise records for most penalty minutes for and against the Rush.

One Degree Kelvin - Back in the goal column with a major game-winning tally on Saturday night was Kelvin Scott Brannon. His deflection of Taylor Doherty's blue line shot just 28 seconds after the Rush earned a 3-2 lead proved to be the difference down the stretch in helping the Rush to their first win of 2016. It is Brannon's first ignition of the goal lamp since October 17th, when he scored twice, including the game-tying goal with .1 seconds left in regulation, in what was eventually a 5-4 win in overtime against the Idaho Steelheads.

Let's Meet The New Guy - Recently, the Rush traded Kale Kerbashian and future considerations for 2015 ECHL All-Star, Danick Gauthier. The fourth-year pro is just 6 games shy of 200 in his professional career that has been spent in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch (60 GP, 8-9-17) and the ECHL's Florida Everblades and Wichita Thunder (134 GP, 45-60-105). In his all-star campaign last year, the Brossard, Quebec native went over a point-per-game pace, racking up 68 points (29 G, 39 Ast) in 66 games, all of which are career-highs. Following his success as a back-to-back QMJHL champion (2011, 2012) and Memorial Cup title (2011) with the Saint John Sea Dogs, he signed an entry-level NHL contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Double The Fun - The Rush enjoyed another successful night on the power play, going 40% (2/5) against the Oilers on Saturday night. This is the fourth time this season that the Rush have scored two power play goals, having won in all four instances. Overall, when the Rush capitalize on the man-advantage, they boast a record of 8-2-1.

30 Rock - Teams coached by Joe Ferras see much success when a high volume of shots are recorded in a game, particularly when the 30-shot plateau is eclipsed. On Saturday night, his Rush club accomplished that feat for a fourth time this season, and, like the statistic presented above, have won all four of those contests in that scenario.

CRUNCHING NUMBERS: vs the Grizzlies - It's been since five consecutive matchups in November that both of these West Division rivals have met, so let's refresh ourselves with some numbers from their previous meetings:

5 - the number of games in which the Rush successfully recorded standings points against Utah. Doing some quick thinking, that's EVERY GAME that's been played so far. Of the five games, three have gone past 60 minutes of regulation, resulting in one Rush OT win, one Utah OT win, and one UT shootout win. Head-to-head, the Rush boast a 3-0-1-1 record against the Grizzlies

92 - the combined penalty-killing efficiency in this set. In a series where the penalty-kill has reigned supreme, both teams have capitalized just once on their man-advantage, with the Rush going 1/8 compared to Utah's 1/17 count.

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