The Rapid City Rush opened up their 2024-25 season on the road against the Tulsa Oilers.
Starting Lineups
Starting with the visiting team, the Rapid City Rush started with a forward trio of Maurizio Colella, Mason McCarty, and Parker Bowman. They had a duo of Charles Martin and Brady Pouteau on the blue line with goaltender Connor Murphy between the pipes.
The Tulsa Oilers started with their forward trio of Alec Butcher, Jaxsen Wiebe, and Sasha Pastujov. They had a defensive pairing of Mike McKee and Duggie Lagrone with rookie goaltender Vachaslav Buteyets between the pipes.
First Period
The game started with a lot of domination by the Oilers, ultimately leading to their first goal of the game from none other than former Rush forward Tyler Poulsen. After a turnover by the Rush, Poulsen was able to split Rapid City’s defense to go in and score to give Tulsa a 1-0 lead. Poulsen’s goal came 4:33 into the first and was assisted by Michael Farren and Jack Clement. Rapid City did not get their first shot of the game until after Tulsa’s goal with their first shot coming 4:41 into the first. Tulsa then extended their lead to two 12:32 into the first with a goal from Justin Michaelian, who was able to sneak the puck under Rush goaltender Connor Murphy. Michaelian’s goal was assisted by Olivier Dame-Malka and Austin Albrecht.
Rapid City was able to cut Tulsa’s lead in half before the end of the first with their own goal from forward Connor Mylymok who took a hard shot straight down the center of Rapid City’s offensive zone. Mylymok’s goal came 16:41 into the first and was assisted by Simon Boyko and Deni Goure.
Tulsa was able to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission after outshooting the Rush 11-10.
Second Period
After putting up two in the first, Tulsa was able to triple their amount of goals in the second period. The Oilers saw their first goal come only 1:05 into the period on what was originally called a no-goal due to how fast the puck went in and out of the net. The goal came from forward Michael Farren with the assists going to Andrew Lucas and Ruslan Gazizov. Tulsa took a 4-1 lead 6:20 into the second with a goal from Sean Olson on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush with Justin Michaelian. Olson was able to deke around Rush goaltender Connor Murphy to put the puck home in the net. Olson’s goal was assisted by Michaelian and Andrew Lucas.
Tulsa was able to find some success on the powerplay 18:09 into the second with a goal from forward Ruslan Gazizov, with the assists going to Sean Olson and Michael Farren. Their final goal of the period came just 24 seconds after Gazizov’s goal with Sasha Pastujov finding the back of the net. Pastujov’s goal was assisted by Jaxsen Wiebe and Alec Butcher.
Tulsa took a 6-1 into the second intermission after being outshot 14-12 by the Rush.
Third Period
The third period was a lot slower of a period than the second, both scoring and shot-wise. But, 13:22 into the period, Rush forward Maurizio Colella was taken down on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot. Colella was not able to convert on his penalty shot.
The lone third-period goal was in favor of the Tulsa Oilers, helping extend their lead to 7-1. The goal came 15:42 into the period from Oilers’ forward Ruslan Gazizov, for his second goal of the game. Gazizov’s goal was assisted by Tyler Poulsen.
Rapid City outshot Tulsa 9-8 in the third.
Three Stars
- Tulsa goaltender Vachaslav Buteyets (32 saves on 33 shots)
- Tulsa forward Michael Farren (one goal, two assists, +3, four shots)
- Tulsa forward Ruslan Gazizov (two goals, one assist, +3, five shots)
Final Stats and Thoughts
The Rush lost the game by a final score of 7-1. Rapid City finished the game with 33 shots and nine penalty minutes while Tulsa finished the game with 31 shots and seven penalty minutes. Rapid City went 0/1, on the powerplay, 1/2 on the penalty kill, and 0/1 in penalty shots. Tulsa was 1/2 on the powerplay and 1/1 on the penalty kill. Rapid City’s goaltender, Connor Murphy, made 24 saves on 31 shots for a save percentage of .774. Tulsa’s goaltender, Vachaslav Buteyets, had 32 saves on 33 shots for a save percentage of .970.
Rapid City did not have the best game against the Oilers. But looking at their young roster, they have nine rookies, 11 players with less than 72 regular season games of experience at or above the ECHL level, one player who has under 100 ECHL games played, two players who have under 200 ECHL games played, and two players who are veteran status. That being said Rapid City has a very young team who is still adjusting to playing at the professional level, which is very different than playing at the collegiate level. Rapid City showed that they can play physically and beat up teams on the physical side of the game, but the team still has quite a few growing pains that they are going to have to work through. Once they work through those growing pains and figure out how to fit all their puzzle pieces together, they could be a pretty lethal team in the ECHL.
Rapid City and Tulsa will face off once again on Sunday, October 20, with puck drop at 2:05 pm MDT.
