The San Antonio Rampage know this Rodeo Road Trip is their chance to stay in the playoff picture and possible could determine if they play past April or go home. The Silver and Black would respond from a loss on Saturday with a dominate win two nights later.
The Rampage tallied three power play goals as they earned a 5-2 win over the Charlotte Checkers in front of 4,247 fans inside Bojangles’ Coliseum on Monday night, earning their first win of their longest road trip in team history.
San Antonio would take advantage of a power play opportunity and light the lamp early. Dennis Everberg tipped in a Maxim Noreau shot past Charlotte goaltender Daniel Altshuller to put the Rampage up by a goal. Charlotte answered back just over two minutes later when Brock McGinn scored a power play tally of his own to make it 1-1 after the first period.
A three goal second period would seal the win for the Silver and Black. First, Borna Rendulic would beat Altshuller at 6:03. Mikko Rantanen added a backhander just over seven minutes later and Garrett Thompson put home his third goal of the season to put the Rampage up 4-1 after 40 minutes.
The Checkers would start Drew MacIntyre in the final frame. Brody Sutter would find the back of the net with 3:39 left in regulation, but Rantanen sealed the 5-2 win with an empty net goal for the Silver and Black.
San Antonio finished 3-for-5 on the power play, while Charlotte was 2-for-11. The Checkers would outshoot the Rampage 33-19, including 12-6 in the final frame.
Roman Will finished with 31 saves on 33 shots, earning the Second Star of the Game. Daniel Altshuller suffered the loss for Charlotte, stopping 9 of 13 shots he faced.
San Antonio’s Duncan Siemens left the game in the second period after an injury saw him get kneed to the back of the head.
The Rampage are now 21-21-7-0 (49 points, 0.500%) on the season and will return to the ice on Wednesday at 6 p.m. for a rematch with the Checkers inside Bojangles’ Coliseum.
