SAN ANTONIO – Despite missing three of their top scorers and facing a two-goal deficit in the third period, the San Antonio Rampage refused to give up.
The Silver and Black forced overtime with two goals in 29 seconds but would fall 4-3 to the Milwaukee Admirals (16-3-3) in front of 5,723 fans at the AT&T Center on Saturday night.
The game kicked off a stretch of seven games the Rampage will face the Iowa Wild, Toronto Marlies, Tucson Roadrunners, and Manitoba Moose.
“We’re pleased with the game,” Rampage Head Coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought we did a lot of things well. Being down 3-1 with four minutes left, to tie that game up and head into overtime. That’s an important point for us.”
Jake Walman opened the scoring and set the teddy bears flying onto the ice 7:12 into the game when he put the puck into the open net, putting San Antonio up a goal. Later, Tanner Kaspick looked to give the Rampage a 2-0 lead but the goal was disallowed after being played with a high-stick. Just before the first period ended, Milwaukee tied the game up as Anthony Richard redirecting a puck over the goal line at 19:07.
Milwaukee took the 2-1 lead in the middle stanza at 16:53 on Yakov Trenin’s 11th goal of the season. Rampage goaltender Ville Husso came out to play the puck but could not get back in time, leaving the net wide open for Trenin.
The Admirals added to their lead in the third period. Jeremy Davies set up Tommy Novak for a one-timer past Husso, putting the visitors up 3-1. San Antonio answered back with a pair of goals 29 seconds apart. Mike Vecchione snapped a wrist shot past Milwaukee goaltender Troy Grosenick at 17:47 and then Nolan Stevens fed Joey LaLeggia, who put the puck home for his first goal of the season, forcing overtime.
“I thought we played a good 60 minutes,” Vecchione said. “We had no quit in the locker room and when they made it 3-1, we had a good response to force the game into overtime.”
In the extra period, Husso made two big stops on breakaway attempts to keep the game going. He would not be so lucky the third time as Colin Blackwell scored the game-winner, giving Milwaukee their 12th straight win.
“There’s no quit in our group no matter the score,” Bannister said. “They come and work every day. It shows every day with the results we’ve had.”
UP NEXT:
The Rampage are now 9-6-7 (25 points) on the season and will return to the ice on Sunday afternoon when they welcome the Iowa Wild (11-6-2) to the AT&T Center at 3 p.m.
