RAPID CITY, S.D. – Jake Marto notched a goal and two assists, as the Eagles scored four goals from four different goal-scorers in a 4-2 win over the Rapid City Rush at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Saturday night. The Eagles swept the weekend series against their rivals, despite being short-benched in the contest.
For the second straight night Colorado notched the game’s first goal against the Rush, as defenseman Jake Marto raced past a pair of Rapid City defenseman, slicing between the circles and beating Rush goaltender Sam Marotta upstairs to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead with 7:39 remaining in the first.
The Eagles would find themselves on the powerplay just minutes later and forward Darryl Bootland would pounce on a puck in the neutral zone, cutting down the right wing boards and beating Marotta with a wrister to extend Colorado’s lead to 2-0.
Trailing 2-0 after the first twenty minutes, Rapid City would cut the Eagles lead in half, as defenseman Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel fired a shot from the blue line on the powerplay that beat Eagles goalie Clarke Saunders to make it 2-1 Colorado with 13:21 left in the second period.
Rapid City would take advantage on the man-advantage for the second time on the night when defenseman Daniel Barczuk deflected a shot from the point past Saunders with just 4:08 gone in the third period to tie the game at 2-2.
Colorado, already without forward Jesse Mychan who was serving a one-game suspension, also lost forward Ludwig Karlsson and defenseman Adrian Veideman early in the contest to injury. Despite being severely short-benched, the Eagles were able to reclaim the lead on a hard-working effort in the crease from forward Johnny Lazo, who netted his fourth goal in six games with Colorado to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead with 6:45 remaining in the final period of regulation.
The Rush would pull Marotta in favor of the extra attacker, but forward Derick Rodwell would seal the victory with an empty-netter at the 19:15 mark to send the Eagles on to their third consecutive victory, 4-2.
The Eagles return home to face the Utah Grizzlies on Wednesday, January 27th at 7:05pm at the Budweiser Events Center.
With Colorado Eagles release
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