The San Antonio Rampage split road games against Adirondack and Rochester before returning home to the Lone Star State. The Silver and Black routed Iowa in its first game back at the AT&T Center and then were shutout by Toronto on Sunday.
Flames 6, Rampage 2
The host Flames dropped the weary Rampage’s record to 2-3 on the road trip, cruising to a 6-2 victory at Glen Falls Civic Center. Sena Acolatse opened the scoring for Adirondack midway through the first period. Rocco Grimaldi tied the game early in the second period to extend his point streak to five games. Jesse Blacker collected the only helper on Grimaldi’s 6th of the season. The Flames got goals from Tyler Wotherspoon, Corban Knight and Garnet Hathaway to chase a beleaguered Dan Ellis after 40 minutes. Replacement Michael Houser was beaten by Ben Hanowski and David Wolf before Andrew Yogan tallied to complete the scoring. Stephan Vigier picked up the lone assist of Yogan’s goal. Ellis finished the game with 29 saves, while Houser stopped 13 of 15 shots in the final frame. Joni Otrio made 36 to post the win for the Flames.
Rampage 3, Americans 1
San Antonio bounced back from the tough loss to Adirondack with a 3-1 win over the Americans in Rochester to close the trip out at .500 (3-3). Dan Ellis made 27 saves to post his 15th win of the campaign. Ryan Martindale opened the scoring at 9:41 of the first period, with the assists going to defensemen Steven Kampfer and Jesse Blacker. Blueliner Blake Parlett scored, from Josh McFadden and Logan Shaw, three minutes later to put the Rampage up by two. The assist was McFadden’s first point of the season. Dan Catenacci got the Americans on the board with 4:59 remaining in the frame with an unassisted goal after a San Antonio turnover. Bobby Butler scored in the second period to complete the scoring. Butler has 12 points in his last nine games. Brett Olson and Garrett Wilson picked up the helpers on Butler’s team-leading 15th goal. Andrey Makarov took the loss for Rochester, finishing with 18 stops.
Rampage 8, Wild 3
The Rampage finally returned home, and after a back-and-forth opening period, blew out the Iowa WIld 8-3 in front of a crowd of 9,117. Zack Mitchell scored just 48 seconds in to stake the Wild to an early lead. The Silver and Black struck back with goals from Josh McFadden, his first of the season at 6:25, and Mark Mancari midway through the frame. Brett Olson and Blake Parlett set up McFadden’s tally while Greg Zanon and Corban Knight, making his Rampage debut after being swapped for Drew Shore, got the helpers on Mancari’s seventh. Iowa would counter with Matt Dumba and Marc Hagel goals to take a 3-2 lead after one. Dumba’s goal came with the Wild on a power play. McFadden fed Connor Brickley to tie the game at the 11:00 mark of the second period and Garrett Wilson notched a power-play goal 2:40 later, from Jesse Blacker and Steven Kampfer, to put San Antonio back on top. In the third, Blacker notched a power-play goal from Wilson and Bobby Butler and Logan Shaw scored with Rocco Grimaldi and Ryan Martindale assisting to chase Iowa starter Johan Gustafsson. Kampfer and Olson would beat backup Parker Milner to close out the scoring. Mancari and Butler got the assists on Kampfer’s power-play tally while Shaw and Alex Petrovic combined to set up Olson’s goal. Dan Ellis made 28 stops to get the win. The Rampage finished with 53 shots on goal and went 3-for-6 on the power play.
Marlies 3, Rampage 0
After bagging eight against the Wild, the Rampage came up empty on Sunday in a 3-0 loss to the Marlies at the AT&T Center. Goaltenders Michael Houser and Antoine Bibeau kept the game scoreless the first two periods. Toronto broke through at 10:49 of the final frame when Brandon Kozun beat Houser. Carter Ashton added two late empty-net goals to complete the scoring. Kozun drew assists on both of Ashton’s goals. Bibeau finished with 30 saves to post his fourth shutout of the season. Houser made 32 stops in a strong start for the Silver and Black.
San Antonio (21-13-3-0) continues its four-game homestand against the Rochester Americans on Saturday and the Texas Stars on Tuesday.
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