AT&T Center – The players were not happy after the game, the coach did not speak to the media and the San Antonio Rampage were outshot by the biggest margin all season. The only problem? The Silver and Black won.
Drew Shore scored his first goal of the year at the right time as the Rampage defeated the Charlotte Checkers (4-7-1-0, 9 points), 2-1 in overtime in front of 6,310 fans at the AT&T Center on Friday night.
San Antonio lit the lamp first when Charlotte goaltender Drew MacIntyre turned the puck over to Rampage center Andrew Yogan, who banged it home on a wraparound attempt at 15:18 of the opening period to put the Silver and Black up 1-0. Joe Basaraba and Greg Zanon assisted on Yogan’s second of the year.
After a scoreless second period, Charlotte would tie the game in the third. Justin Shugg put home a power play goal when he buried the puck into a wide open net as San Antonio goaltender Dan Ellis was trying to get back.
Neither team could find the back of the net the rest of the final stanza as Shugg’s goal sent the game into overtime. In the extra period, Ellis made back-to-back saves and Shore skated down ice on a breakaway to net the game-winning goal and seal the 2-1 win for the Rampage.
“We got outplayed for most of it,” Shore said following the game. “good teams, the best teams find a way to win even when they don’t have their best game. We’re making strides towards doing that and I think tonight was a step in that direction.”
San Antonio was outshot 31-17 by Charlotte, making Friday the second time in the season the Rampage have gotten outshot by their opponent.
“We’ll take the two points, we’ll take ’em,” Rampage assistant coach Scott Allen said. We’ve out-chanced teams this year in our losses two to one [scoring chances] and lost. So we’ll take them.”
Ellis made 30 saves on 31 Charlotte shots, while MacIntyre made 15 saves on 17 San Antonio shots. The Silver and Black finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Checkers were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Rampage are now 8-6-0-0 (14 points) on the season and will return to the ice tomorrow when they face the Checkers in a rematch at the AT&T Center at 7 p.m.
