“Rampage Roundup” is a weekly feature at The Sunshine Skate to keep you in touch with your favorite future Panthers.
Summary:
The Rampage have had a busy week, with three games in five days.
The team suffered a 5–4 overtime loss to the Utica Comets on December 5th. The Rampage scored two short-handed goals, the first after falling behind 0–2 by Brett Olson and the second by Steven Kampfer at 1–3. After taking the lead in the third period, Ellis allowed a goal with less than 4 minutes of play remaining. Alex Biega’s goal three minutes into overtime resulted in the Comet’s third straight win over the Rampage.
The Rampage returned to play two games against the Chicago Wolves, winning 2–1 on December 7th, and falling 2–6 last night.
Shane O’Brien scored early in the first period but the Wolves scored on a power play off of a Greg Zanon penalty. Despite significant penalties on both sides and multiple power play opportunities, Mark Mancari scored the only other goal of the game five minutes into the second period.
The teams met again two nights later and continued with their rampant penalties for a combined 85 PIMs, with two game misconducts. The Wolves took advantage of those opportunities, scoring three power play goals. While Drew Shore and Blake Parlett each managed to get on board, six different Wolves players were able to do the same. Despite his strong, consistent performance this season, Dan Ellis was replaced by Michael Houser in goal for most of the last period after allowing five unanswered goals. The 2–6 loss marks the first regulation loss for the Rampage since November 7th.
Impact players:
Alex Petrovic came up big on the power play during the Comets game to score his second goal of the season. The defenseman is also on track to surpass his 2012–2013 season high 17 points with 10 assists so far through December. Steven Kampfer (6G, 6A), following his shorty against the Comets, notched an assist against the Wolves.
Drew Shore and Mark Mancari have continued their point streaks, with Shore (6G, 18A) extending the franchise record for assists to seven consecutive games while also scoring against the Wolves last night. Mancari (6G, 14A) continued his nine game streak with a goal and two assists this past week.
Quinton Howden finally returned from an injury following the first game of the season on December 5th and made his first assist against the Wolves on the 7th.
Upcoming games:
The Rampage’s schedule continues to be busy with back-to-back road games against the Iowa Wild on December 11th and 12th. The previous two games between the teams both resulted in a Rampage victory. The team (14-7–2–0) is now ranked fifth in the Western Conference while the Wild (6–15–1–1) is last.
Natalija can be reached for contact on Twitter.
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