On the heels of back-to-back overtime victories over the Abbotsford Heat at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre, the San Antonio Rampage flew 2,500 miles southeast to Cleveland, Ohio with aspirations of earning a victory in regulation time. San Antonio entered the contest fresh off of three consecutive overtime decisions and preferred not to embark on a fourth, if possible. Stellar all-around play would grant the Rampage their wish as they defeated the Lake Erie Monsters by a 4-1 margin at Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday evening.
The early minutes of the first period saw both clubs take turns carrying the play from one end to another until Rampage right wing Troy Bodie broke the scoreless tie with just over four minutes remaining in the opening stanza. After establishing control of the puck near the left faceoff circle in Lake Erie’s zone, San Antonio left wing Jeff Hoggan fired a shot off Monsters netminder Tyler Weiman’s chest and Bodie was there to knock in the rebound and provide San Antonio with a 1-0 lead. The goal at the 15:55 mark of the first period was Bodie’s first of the season and first with the Rampage, while Hoggan registered his first assist in 2009-10.
San Antonio would add to its lead less than three minutes later when Rampage defenseman Sean Sullivan found San Antonio center Kyle Turris unattended in the left corner of the Monsters defensive zone. Receiving little pressure on the puck from Lake Erie defensemen, Turris sped along to the goal line toward the Monsters net, dipped his shoulder to influence Weiman to drop his shoulders and promptly beat Weiman high to the short side to give the Rampage a 2-0 lead.
Early on in the second period, the Monsters closed the deficit to one goal as Lake Erie left wing Ryan Stoa tallied his first goal of the season on a pass from Monsters center Brian Willsie. After gaining possession of the puck in the neutral zone, Willsie sped down the right boards over the Rampage blue line, cut to the middle and left a pass to Stoa who was waiting down low on the right post to beat Rampage goaltender Al Montoya and close the score to 2-1 with just over fifteen minutes remaining in the second.
Nearly ten minutes later, a San Antonio penalty appeared to present Lake Erie with a golden opportunity to even the score, but relentless penalty killing by the duo of Joel Perrault and Jeff Hogan begged to differ. Hoggan and Perrault induced a turnover in the neutral zone and quickly worked a short-handed give-and-go that saw Perrault convert on a shot from the inside of the right circle, beating Weiman low to the blocker side. Perrault’s goal at the 15:07 mark of the second period represented the first Rampage shorthanded goal of the season.
San Antonio squelched any thoughts of overtime in the first minute of the third period as Turris won the faceoff in the Lake Erie zone on his forehand and left the puck behind his body for Rampage left wing Viktor Tikhonov. The right-handed Tikhonov would adeptly use Turris as a screen and beat Weiman low to increase San Antonio’s lead to 4-1 and provide Montoya with a three-goal cushion that he would not relinquish.
Montoya made 33 saves on 34 shots to earn his third victory of the season. Sullivan’s assist on Turris’ goal was his sixth of the season and places him in a tie with Hershey’s Andrew Gordon for first place in points with eight.
With the win, the Rampage advance to 4-0-1-0 overall and 3-0-1-0 on the road in 2009-10. San Antonio will travel to the Toyota Center in Houston where they will meet the Aeros in a “Lone Star Faceoff” matchup on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before returning home to the AT&T Center on Saturday night to host the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.
