The San Antonio Rampage have had great success against the Oklahoma City Barons this season, and that trend continued on Friday evening.
San Antonio attacked early and often as they defeated the Barons (33-15-3-3, 72 points) 4-2 in front of 2,560 fans inside Cox Convention Center.
The Rampage got on the scoreboard before fans could settle into their seats as Mark Mancari sent a wrist shot over the glove of Oklahoma City goaltender Laurent Brossoit just 1:29 into the game to give the Silver and Black the early 1-0 lead. The Barons would tie the game with a goal from Brad Hunt, who fired a shot past San Antonio netminder Michael Houser to make it a 1-1 game going into the second period.
John McFarland put home a rebound to give the Silver and Black the lead once again just 5:44 into the middle frame. San Antonio would take the 2-1 lead into the final frame.
San Antonio took a two-goal lead when Shane O’Brien got the pass from Ryan Martindale and buried the puck past Brossoit to put the Rampage up 3-1 just a minute into the third period. Oklahoma City cut the lead to just one when Bogdan Yakimov put the puck into the empty net as Houser attempted to scramble back into position. Connor Brickley sealed the win for San Antonio with full-length shot down the ice for an empty-net goal to make it 4-2.
Houser stopped 21-of-23 shots in the win, while Brossoit made 23 saves on the evening. Oklahoma City was 1-for-6 on the power-play while the Silver and Black were 0-for-6 with the man advantage.
The Rampage are now 31-18-5-0 (67 points) on the season and will return to the ice tomorrow night when they face the Barons in a rematch at 7 p.m. inside the Cox Convention Center.
*Rampage 4-3-1 (9 points) on Rodeo Road Trip
