The Prince Rupert Rampage hosted the Kitimat Ice Demons for their second meeting of the season, with the Rampage having won 5-0 last time.
The Rampage were down a goalie as Frank Slubowski was not listed on the roster for game time, so Brayden Ferguson got his first start between the pipes.
The game got off to a quick start as Tyler Halliday opened the scoring just two minutes into the game. The Rampage had two power plays in the first, as the most penalized player, Wil DeJong would take a pair of penalties. The Rampage weren’t able to execute on the first man advantage but shortly after, Hunter Johnson would get his team-leading seventh goal of the season by tipping a Tyler Ostrom point shot past Ice Demons goaltender Tyler Havens to make it 2-0 Rampage.
After DeJong’s second penalty of the period, the Rampage were looking to do more damage with a power play opportunity. The Rampage put on the pressure during the power play and had some good looks, but the best look came just as the penalty expired, as a Hunter Johnson shot was saved by Havens but the rebound dropped onto the stick of Jean-Luc Rendell-Fournier who spun around and deposited the puck past the pad of Havens, giving the Rampage a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Just two minutes into the second, Ice Demons forward Jonathan Aiken would take a holding penalty sending the Rampage back to the power play. The Rampage weren’t going to let the power play expire, as Tyler Ostrom passed the puck to Reid Lindsay who fired a one-timer that was redirected by Halliday to make the game 4-0.
After the fourth Rampage goal, the flow of the game shifted as Kitimat took control with two power plays, a Tyler Halliday charging call sent Kitimat to the powerplay where they quickly scored their first of the game just two seconds into the man-advantage as defenseman Carter DeSousa took the puck off an Aiken faceoff win and promptly fired it high stick-side on Ferguson to cut the Rampage lead to three. After a roughing call on Rampage forward Chance Waldhaus sent Kitimat back to the power play, the Rampage were able to kill off most of the penalty, but Kitimat broke into the zone and DeSousa found the puck on his stick in the slot and fired it past the glove of Ferguson to make it 4-2.
With just under four minutes to play, Ice Demons forward Tayden Fowler-McNab fired the puck past Ferguson to make it a one-goal game. Just 10 seconds after Kitimat’s third goal, Rampage forward Thomas Robinson would find the back of the net to make it 5-3 Rampage. With under a minute to go in the period, Fowler-McNab’s second of the game would send Kitimat to the second intermission trailing by only a goal.
Just over nine minutes into the third, Waldhaus was sent to the box for two minutes with an interference call sending Kitimat to the power play in search of the game-tying goal. While Kitimat had several good looks on the man advantage, an errant pass was picked up by Ostrom, who would fire a pass to captain Cory Movold, who sprung for a breakaway and scored a shorthanded goal to make it 6-4 Rampage. The scoring would be capped off after a Reid Lindsay goal made it 7-4, which would stand as the final score.
The Rampage took a big two points at home, which they need to continue to do, said team manager and acting head coach Ron German.
“Being on the road right now is kind of tough. So, at home you have to play well. The home crowd always helps us out by getting behind our guys. When we play at home we have a few more guys around and because you have the squad, that’s where you need to make up the points you lose when you’re on those tough road trips.”
The Rampage return to action on Nov. 1 and 2 when they host Williams Lake and Quesnel, respectively. If the Rampage want to win their games next weekend, they need to be more disciplined, said German.
“With the teams that are coming up next week, we have to be way more disciplined. If we’re going to the penalty box, the puck is going in our net. There’s no question with the two teams that we will face, So the boys understand that and hopefully they’ll take the discipline, and not penalties.”
