The San Antonio Rampage have now dropped four straight after losing all three of their games last week. The Rampage fell to 12th in the Western Conference and now find themselves three points behind 8th place Lake Erie, who have played one less game.
On Wednesday, the Rampage hosted Iowa, and the two clubs played an entertaining game which ended with the Wild capturing a 5-4 shootout win. Vincent Trocheck snapped a four-game scoring slump with his tenth of the season to open the scoring at 2:40 of the first period. Ryan Whitney and Bobby Butler set up the power-play goal. Jonathon Blum scored two minutes later with the Wild on a power play to even the game. Colby Robak found the back of the net at the 10:24 to restore the lead for San Antonio. Greg Rallo and Drew Shore collected the helpers on Robak’s third of the campaign. Steven Kampfer scored at 7:53 of the second to forge a 2-2 tie. Ryan Whitney tallied his second of the season to give the Rampage, who were on a power play, the lead back 95 seconds later. Garrett Wilson and Jon Matsumoto combined to set up the goal. Iowa would come up with their second power-play goal, with Jason Zucker doing the deed, to make the score 3-3. Steve Pinizzotto would cap the second period scoring with his fifth goal, from Eric Selleck and Denny Urban, to give San Antonio a 4-3 lead heading to the third. The Rampage would hold onto the lead for most of the final period until Brian Connelly lit the lamp at the 14:18 mark. It was the Wild’s third power-play goal of the game. Jacob Markstrom, who finished with 28 saves, gave Iowa the man-advantage with a tripping minor. Iowa’s Zucker, who finished with three points for first star honors, scored in the first round of the shootout, while Shore countered in the second round for San Antonio. Tyler Graovac scored in the sixth round and Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper denied Rallo to give Iowa the bonus point.
San Antonio traveled to Abbotsford for Friday’s first of two against the Heat. Abbotsford scored three power-play goals in route to a 4-2 victory. After a scoreless first period, Ben Hanowski scored at 14:08 of the second, with defender Jonathan Racine in the penalty box, to give the Heat a 1-0 lead. Abbotsford struck again with the man-advantage early in the third frame to go up by two. This time, Ben Street got the puck by Jacob Markstrom, who finished with 34 saves, for his 13th of the season. Just over a minute later, Garrett Wilson and Vincent Trocheck combined to set up Bobby Butler to finally get the Rampage on the board. Trocheck scored shorthanded from Joey Crabb to tie the game at 11:41. The goal was number eleven for Trocheck. Max Reinhart tallied Abbotsford’s third power-play 38 seconds later to give the Heat a lead they would not relinquish. Markus Granlund scored an empty-netter with 57 seconds remaining to complete the scoring. Joni Ortio stopped 29 shots to post the win for the Heat.
Saturday’s rematch would see the Heat complete the weekend sweep by skating to a 5-2 win. San Antonio struggled again on the penalty kill, allowing Abbotsford to go 2 for 3 with the man-advantage. Ben Hankowski opened the scoring, for a second time, with a power-play maker at 8:42 of the first period. Jon Matsumoto replied with a power-play goal for San Antonio to even the game at one. Joey Crabb and Denny Urban collected the helpers. Ben Street notched his 14th of the season on another Heat power play to give Abbotsford the lead back 27 seconds before the opening buzzer. Mark Cundari struck on power play midway through the second to give Abbotsford a 3-1 lead. Bobby Butler would rally the Rampage, scoring his 8th of the season on a power play from Alex Petrovic and Matsumoto. Butler extended his point-scoring streak to five games with the goal. Markus Granlund would beat Dov Grumet-Morris late in the third period to extend the lead to 4-2 before Max Reinhart iced the game with an empty-netter. Grument-Morris turned aside 16 shots and was tagged with the loss, while Abbotsford’s Joni Ortio made 27 saves to get the win.
San Antonio (10-12-0-2) will travel to Charlotte for games against the Checkers on Tuesday and Thursday before returning home to face the Chicago Wolves and Texas Stars this weekend. Defenseman Matt Gilroy will join the team in North Carolina.
For complete Rampage stats click here.