A four-goal outburst in the second period led the Prince Rupert Rampage to a 7-4 come-from-behind road win over the Terrace River Kings in CIHL action on Saturday.
Patrick Robert picked up a hat trick in the Rupert win with Cole Atchison, Kory Movold, Tyler Ostrom and Devin Palmer adding singles.
The River Kings stepped out to a 3-1 lead but the first period intermission curtailed the Terrace momentum.
“Yeah, I think after the first period we were able to get into the dressing room, regroup and come back out and play our game,” Ron German, Rampage head coach said.
“After that, every line clicked ... it was a full-team thing, everyone kicked in as it should.”
Although the Rampage stormed back with four goals in the second to take a 5-4 lead into the third, German said an early two-man advantage for the River Kings was crucial.
“It was only 5-4 at that point and we killed off the 5-on-3. We got into penalty trouble but our penalty kill was phenomenal,” he said.
As with most successful penalty kills, the goaltender usually is key — something German said Rampage netminder Devin Gerrits provided.
“Devin made some big saves for us that’s for sure,” he said.
Gerrits came into the game with only a shootout loss under his belt this year and sporting a 3.69 GAA with a .923 save percentage.
After a shootout win and a shootout loss to open the season at home, the 7-4 regulation win on the road moves the Rhinos to a season record of 2-0-0-1.
The win also came despite the Rampage having five regulars out of the lineup.
“Jared Davis’ wife is having a baby, so he wasn’t going to be straying too far from home,” German said.
German added that two other players were out of town and Braydon Horcoff and Game 1 game star Tyler Halliday are nursing injuries.
“To have five roster guys out shows the depth of the team this year,” German said.
The Rampage will now set their sights on the Kitimat Ice Demons in a home-and-home series beginning Friday in the Tamitik Jubilee Sports Complex and returning to the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre on Saturday night at 7 p.m.