The San Antonio Rampage know how important the Rodeo Road Trip is and how important the points earned on the trip can shape the playoff picture. The Silver and Black picked up the sweep and took all four points in their second stop.
The Rampage earned a 3-2 victory over the Charlotte Checkers to complete the series sweep in front of 4,512 fans inside the Bojangles’ Coliseum on Wednesday evening.
Charlotte got the scoring started with a goal from Sergey Tolchinsky after the puck took a bad bounce in front of the San Antonio net and he put it past Roman Will to make it a one goal lead. The Silver and Black answered back with a tally from Mikko Rantanen just over three minutes later to knot the score at one goal apiece. The Checkers answered back quickly when Brock McGinn banged home the rebound to put the home team back up by one. The Rampage would tie the game once again before intermission as Joey Hishon tipped in a Maxim Noreau shot to make it 2-2 after an eventful 20 minutes.
San Antonio took the lead for good in the second period when Marc-Andre Cliché lit the lamp at 5:03 with a shot past Charlotte net minder Drew MacIntyre. Cliche’s goal would stand as the game-winner after a scoreless third period meant the Rampage earned a 3-2 win and a sweep of Charlotte.
Roman Will stopped 21 of 23 shots to earn the win and Mikko Rantanen earned the First Star of the Game. Both teams finished 1-for-4 on the power play.
The Rampage are now 22-21-7-0 (51 points, 0.510%) on the season and will return to the ice on Saturday when they continue their Rodeo Road Trip in California against the San Jose Barracuda at 3:15 p.m.
*Rampage 2-1-0-0 (4 points) on Rodeo Road Trip
