Rush Hold Off Thunder On Thursday Night

RAPID CITY, SD (Dec. 8) – Wichita battled back from a three-goal deficit on Thursday night, but fell short in a 4-3 loss to Rapid City at The Monument. 

Michal Stinil had three points while Brayden Watts collected two assists. 

The two teams combined for five power play goals on 12 chances. Wichita went 2-for-7 on the power play. Rapid City was 3-for-5 with the man advantage.

Alex Aleardi gave the Rush a 1-0 lead at 14:38 of the first. He fired a shot from the left circle that appeared to get deflected by a Thunder stick. The shot got past the right shoulder of Evan Buitenhuis for his seventh of the season. 

In the second Matt Marcinew increased the lead to 2-0. Brett Gravelle came in up the left wing and fired a shot that was blocked by Dylan MacPherson. The puck got caught up in his equipment and dropped near his feet. Marcinew took advantage of the fluky bounce and recorded his 13th of the season. 

At 16:57, Cole MacDonald fired a shot from the deep slot on the power play and beat Daniil Chechelev to cut the lead to 2-1. 

Rapid City re-gained a two-goal margin with a pair of third-period markers. At 4:40, Keanu Yamamoto put home a shot from the left circle on the power play to make it 3-1.

Carter Brooks made it 4-1 at 7:36 as he found a rebound near the top of crease and beat Buitenhuis with a backhand for his 10th of the year. 

Stinil made it 4-2 at 8:44 as he took a pass behind the defense and popped a shot past Chechelev on a breakaway for his first of two on the night.

He scored his second on the power play at 12:02, firing a nasty snap shot from the left faceoff dot to cut the lead to 4-3. 

Wichita had a power play with just under three minutes left, but took a penalty to make it a four-on-four situation. Both teams failed to score on the man advantage. 

The Thunder called their timeout with 30 seconds remaining and pulled Buitenhuis for the extra attacker. Rapid City held on and grabbed the win.  

Stinil finished with two goals and an assist. He has at least two points in three-straight games and at least two points in five of his last six outings. Watts recorded his third multi-assist game of the season.

Wichita remains in Rapid City for a rematch tomorrow night starting at 8:05 p.m. against the Rush.

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