After one month away from the Alamo City, the San Antonio Rampage would conclude their 11-game Rodeo Road Trip on Thursday evening and they would end it on a good note.
A strong second period would see the Rampage (32-19-5-1) defeat the Charlotte Checkers (22-30-5-1) by a final score of 5-2 in front of 4,056 fans inside Time Warner Cable Arena. The win meant the Silver and Black would clinch a winning record on the Rodeo Trip.
Corban Knight got things started extremely quick as he put home a goal just 43 seconds into the game. However, Charlotte would tie the game just five minutes later when Trevor Carrick poked the puck past San Antonio goaltender Michael Houser and Zach Boychuck’s wrist shot at 14:48 would put the Checkers up 2-1 going into the second period.
San Antonio would tie the game in the middle period when John McFarland picked up his own rebound and put it past Charlotte goaltender John Muse. With time winding down, Logan Shaw flipped the puck over Muse’s glove as the Rampage took a 3-2 lead into the final period of play.
Rocco Grimaldi gave the Rampage a two-goal lead just eight minutes into the final frame and Bobby Butler sealed the 5-2 win with an empty-net goal, for his team leading 24th goal of the season.
Houser made 25 saves on 27 Charlotte shots and Muse stopped 27 of 31 shots he faced. San Antonio was 0-for-3 on the power-play, while Charlotte was 1-for-2 with the man advantage.
San Antonio ends their Rodeo Road Trip with a 5-4-1-1 record that saw them collect 12 of a possible 22 points.
The Rampage will return home on Saturday evening to welcome the Iowa Wild to the AT&T Center for Military Appreciation Night at 7 p.m. The team will wear special uniforms to honor the service members.
