Story by Tony Uminski
SAN ANTONIO – Streaks were broken at the AT&T Center, but the Rampage remained in the fourth playoff spot in the AHL’s Central Division Tuesday night despite a 4-3 setback to the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The Rampage lost for the first time in six games overall. The Griffins ended a four-game slide plus a four-game losing streak to the Rampage this season.
Give credit to Griffins goaltender Pat Nagle, who stopped 44 of 47 Rampage shots, as San Antonio shooters peppered the Grand Rapids net all night, only to be subdued by Nagle.
The Griffins built a 4-1 lead midway through the second period, two coming from former Rampage forward Turner Elson, but third period goals by Jordan Nolan and Klim Kostin got the Rampage to within a goal before running out of time.
Derrick Pouliot scored the other Rampage goal in the first period, but goaltender Adam Wilcox struggled through a tough night, allowing four goals on 10 shots. He was relieved by Ville Husso after Grand Rapids’ fourth goal at 12:37 of the second period, and the Finnish prospect stopped all 10 shots he faced.
The Griffins moved ahead of the Rampage into third place in the Central Division with 61 points, while San Antonio dropped to fourth with 60. The Rampage lead the Chicago Wolves and Rockford IceHogs by one point in the highly contested division playoff race. San Antonio is even in games played with Chicago, but the Rampage have a game-in-hand on the Griffins and two games on Rockford.
San Antonio plays the Texas Stars on Friday night and welcome the division-leading and league-leading Milwaukee Admirals to town on Sunday afternoon before heading out to play in Milwaukee on Mar. 11th – in Chicago on Mar 13 and two games in Iowa against the Wild on Mar. 15 and 18.
