Russell Nets Two In OT Loss To Rush

RAPID CITY, SD (April 12) – Wichita had three separate two-goal leads slip away on Friday night, losing in overtime to Rapid City, 5-4, at The Monument. 

Mitchell Russell led the way for the Thunder with two goals while Jay Dickman had three assists. 

Wichita hopped out to a two-goal advantage in the first period. Russell scored at 5:27 to make it 1-0. Dickman stole puck below the goal line, fed it to Russell in the slot and he beat Christian Propp for his eighth of the year.

At 19:18, Bradley Marek made it 2-0 as he shoveled a Dickman pass past Propp near the crease. 

Early in the second, Brett Gravelle cut the lead to one. Keanu Yamamoto fed a pass to Gravelle in the high slot and he hammered a one-timer under Trevor Gorsuch's glove to make it 2-1. 

Russell increased the lead to two at 7:35. He caught a long outlet pass from Dickman in the neutral zone and beat Propp on a breakaway to make it 3-1. 

The Rush got back within one at 16:02 on a goal from Parker Bowman. Gravelle fired a shot wide of the net. The puck took a bad bounce near the right post and Bowman tipped it off Gorsuch to make it 3-2.

In the third, Nick Nardella re-gained a two-goal advantage at 7:16. Watts intercepted a pass at the red line and found Michal Stinil. He came in up the slot and gave it over to Nardella at the edge of the right circle. Nardella buried it past Propp to make it 4-2. 

Rapid City kept fighting back into the game as Jake Stella scored a shorthanded marker at 8:43. He fired a one-timer off the rush past Gorsuch for his second of the year to make it 4-3.

Yamamoto tied it at 17:08. Blake Bennett fought through a stick check in the right circle and fired a shot on net. Yamamoto outraced a defender to the rebound and slid it past Gorsuch to make it 4-4. 

In overtime, Wichita had several chances, including a point-blank chance from Stinil that hit the post.

Maurizio Colella scored the game-winner at 2:54 of the extra session. He walked off the goal line in the right circle, waited for a shooting lane and slid it through Gorsuch for his 11th of the season. 

Wichita was 0-for-3 on the man advantage. Rapid City went 1-for-3 on the power play. 

Russell recorded his first two-goal game of his career and has four goals in his last three games. Dickman had his third three-assist outing of the year. Marek had a goal and an assist. Nardella has goals in three-straight games. Stinil has assists in four-straight games. He needs one more helper to reach 100 for his ECHL career. 

Wichita closes the regular season tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m. against Rapid City.

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