Dallas/Allen, Texas - The Allen Americans, ECHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators (NHL), and Belleville Senators (AHL), picked up their first home point of the season on Wednesday night in a 2-1overtime loss to the Rapid City Rush.
The Americans finally got their game going in the second period outshooting the Rush 16-6 and 31-19 through the first forty minutes of action but could not beat Rapid City goalie Connor Murphy.
It remained a 1-0 game in favor of the Rush into the third period. Rasmus Ekstrom’s first period goal at the 13:14 mark held up until 9:43 of the final frame when Colton Hargrove put one past Rush goalie Connor Murphy, his first of the season to make it a 1-1 game.
Both teams traded scoring chances in the final period but neither team could cash in with the go-ahead goal sending the game to overtime.
Americans defenseman Kevin Spinozzi was called for a slashing penalty late in the third period, so Rapid City started overtime with a 4-on-3-man advantage.
The Rush had their top line on the ice for much of the overtime frame and finally they made the Americans pay. A one-timer from the right side of the ice off the stick of Blake Bennett at the 1:23 mark of overtime beat Americans goalie Marco Costantini, to give Rapid City the extra point and their third win of the year.
Costantini was excellent between the pipes, stopping 39 of 41 Rapid City shots. Rush goalie Connor Murphy was also very good stopping 39 of 40 Allen shots.
The same two teams battle it out again on Friday night at CUTX Event Center. Game time is 7:10 PM.
They Said it:
Steve Martinson: “We did a much better job staying out of the box tonight until the end. The difference in the game was they scored on the power play, and we didn’t. I liked our effort, but we need to get some offense going. We have a lot of guys with a history of scoring. We have to start scoring goals”
Colton Hargrove: That was our best game this season for sure. We’re getting better every day. We need to keep working at it.
Three Stars:
1. RC - B. Bennett
2. RC - C. Murphy
3. ALN - M. Costantini
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