The Prince Rupert Rampage made it back-to-back wins over the Terrace River Kings, following up last weekend’s 5-2 victory in Prince Rupert with a 3-2 victory in Terrace on Saturday night.
Most of the first period saw Marc Wilson for Terrace and Trumain Kurka of Prince Rupert standing their ground and turning shots aside, but like the meeting in Prince Rupert, it was the Rampage who struck first. After 14:35 of scoreless play and two killed penalties, Kale Burns found the back of the net beating Wilson to put the Rampage up a goal. It would prove to be the only goal of the period, giving the Rampage the 1-0 lead going into the second.
But the Rampage came out of the dressing room fired up and it took only 35 seconds of the second period for Justin Fontaine to bury Rupert’s second goal of the game. Down 2-0 early in the second, the River Kings were not about to give up and made a game of it late in the period. Steve Cullis put one by Kurka on the powerplay with 7:45 to play to narrow the gap to a single goal, and less than to and a half minutes later Terrace would tie things up on the powerplay with a goal by Josh Murray. After some more back and forth play it looked like the two teams would head into the final frame tied up, but with just 17 seconds left to go Jacob Santurbano found the back of the net to give the Rampage the 3-2 lead through 40 minutes of play.
The third period proved to be a showcase for the goalies and the defence, as neither the Rampage nor the River Kings was able to score through the 20 minutes of the third, giving Prince Rupert the 3-2 victory for their second straight victory, their third straight on-ice win and eight points in their last four scheduled games - which included the forfeit by the Hazelton Wolverines.
With the win the Rampage widen the gap for the second western conference playoff spot with 13 points (6-7-1) to the River Kings eight points (4-7). However, the Rampage have played three more games than the River Kings which could be a factor as the Rampage have only four games left, with three of those being against the Kitimat Ice Demons including a trip to Kitimat this Saturday and next Saturday.
The River Kings don’t have it easy either though, as their remaining seven games include two games against Kitimat, a game against the undefeated Smithers Steelheads and the Houston Luckies.
The Rampage and the Kings will also meet once more in Prince Rupert on December 30.