The San Antonio Rampage continue to struggle, dropping all three games this week to slide further out of playoff contention. The club has only managed one win in ten games during the month of December.
On Wednesday, the Rampage dropped another one to the Texas Stars. The Stars jumped out to a 3-0 lead and withstood a third period San Antonio rally to win by a 4-2 count. Travis Morin and Toby Petersen scored late in the first period to stake Texas to a two-goal lead. In the second period, Francis Wathier beat Rob Madore, who was making his first start for the Rampage, to make it 3-0 for the home side. San Antonio finally got on the board when Garrett Wilson scored at the 1:01 mark of the final frame. The even-strength goal was set up by Drew Shore and Alex Petrovic. The assist was Shore’s sixth in the last four games.The Rampage pulled within one when John McFarland, who was just recalled from the Cincinnati Cyclones, notched his first of the season for San Antonio. Vincent Trocheck drew the only helper on the goal for his 22nd point of the campaign. Unfortunately, Texas goaltender Jack Campbell shut the door the rest of the way and Curtis McKenzie clinched the game with an empty-net goal with 31 seconds remaining. Madore finished the game with 27 saves, while Campbell made 30 stops to pick up the win.
The Rampage hit Milwaukee on Friday, and were soundly thumped 4-0 by the Admirals. Taylor Beck beat starter Michael Houser at 15:22 of the first period to give Milwaukee a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Vinny Saponari and Filip Forsberg scored power-play goals to chase Houser. Rob Madore mopped up and stopped 5 of the 6 shots he faced. Forsberg got his second of the game past Madore at 9:34 of the third with the Admirals enjoying another man-advantage situation to complete the scoring. Milwaukee’s Scott Darling made 34 saves to post the shutout. The Admirals finished the game an efficient 3 for 5 on the power play. Eric Selleck led the Rampage with 7 shots on goal.
San Antonio ended the week with a tough 3-2 shootout loss to the Iowa Wild in Des Moines. Jon Matsumoto opened the scoring with his 7th goal at the 7:42 mark of the first period. Quinton Howden drew the lone assist. Raphael Bussieres would tie the game a few minutes later for Iowa. After a scoreless second, Matt Gilroy would notch his first with the Rampage on a power play. Jed Ortmeyer and Bobby Butler combined to set up the goal. Steven Kampfer would beat Rob Madore to even the game at 12:31. After Butler and Tyler Graovac scored in the sixth round, Kampfer would get the winner in round seven of the shootout. John Curry stopped 39 shots to get the win, while Madore finished with 24 saves. On a positive note, San Antonio killed all three Iowa power plays during the game.
San Antonio (11-18-0-2) is off until the weekend when they play a pair against the Texas Stars. Friday they will host the Stars at the AT&T Center with Saturday’s rematch taking place in Cedar Park.
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