HIGHLIGHTS:
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Rampage scored two goals in a span of 1:30 to steal a 2-1 victory from the San Diego Gulls (15-13-1-0) in front 4,937 fans at the AT&T Center on Sunday afternoon.
The victory saw the Silver and Black close out 2017 with three straight wins after their dramatic overtime victory against the Texas Stars on Friday night. San Antonio went down early, but used their grit to scrap by and steal two points.
“We’re just playing the right way,” Rampage coach Eric Veilleux said. “We have great reload from our forwards. We’re not forcing plays or anything like that. We are playing well.”
Here is what went good and bad for the Rampage, as well as three standout players: Chris Butler, David Warsofsky, and Ville Husso.
The Good:
- San Antonio never gave up, fighting until the final buzzer. As a result, two late goals saw them get into the top three of the Pacific Division.
- The Rampage penalty kill continued to stay hot in this cold weather, stopping all four of the Gulls’ power play opportunities.
- Ville Husso had another great game in net.
The Bad:
- The theme of the Rampage struggling on the power play continued on Sunday. San Antonio went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.
- San Antonio struggled offensively for the second straight game.
Three Standout Players:
Chris Butler: The Rampage captain led by example as he scored the first goal of the afternoon for the Silver and Black with an extra attacker on the ice. Butler finally beat former San Antonio netminder Reto Berra with a shot top shelf with a minute left in regulation.
Butler led by example by keeping the Rampage aggressive on both ends of the ice. San Antonio out shot San Diego 13-10 in the period, with two of those shots going into the back of the net.
David Warsofsky: Anytime you score the game winner, you’re going to standout. What makes David Warsofsky’s game-winning goal so special is not only did he do it with less than a second remaining, he had two straight chances to bury the puck.
Warsofsky has had a rough start to his first season in San Antonio, particularly on the defensive end of the ice. With that said, maybe this game winning goal is just the boost he needs to get it going in 2018.
Ville Husso: For the second straight game, Ville Husso had a solid game in between the pipes. He stopped 27 of 28 shots he faced, earning the third star of the night honors.
Husso came up particularly big in the third period onslaught of shots from the Gulls. He made two big stops to keep the Silver and Black within a goal and in the last two games has allowed just one goal in 121 minutes of action.
Up next:
The Rampage are now 19-12-2-0 on the season and will have a few days off to ring in the new year. The team will return to the ice on Wednesday when they welcome the Bakersfield Condors to the AT&T Center at 7 p.m.
