The Quad City Mallards bounced back from Friday’s 3-1 loss at the hands of the Rapid City Rush to win game five by the same score. Quad City’s Justin Fox netted the eventual game-winner at 10:26 of the first period. The goal came in the waning seconds of the Mallards’ first power play of the night after Rapid City’s Jared Brown was assessed a minor for slashing. Prior to the game-winner by Fox, Gergo Nagy buried the game’s first goal at 6:06 of the first period and then assisted on the Fox goal.
The second period saw no scoring, but plenty of physical play as the Mallards and Rush were completing hard hits that contributed to the game’s 34-penalty minutes that were assessed.
The third period saw its first goal come from Rapid City’s Kevin Harvey at 5:28, leaving a raucous Quad City crowd of 3,011 worried about the slim, one-goal lead. That worry was quickly relieved by the Mallards’ Vladimir Nikiforov at 6:07 when he picked up a Jeff Lee centering pass to buried the final goal of the game past the outstretched arms of Rush netminder Wayne Savage.
The game ended with a fight at 20:00 between the Mallards Jim McKenize and the Rush’s Bobby Preece, during which Preece hit McKenzie with his own helmet. Neither looked worse for wear following the scrap, and the teams left the ice without further incident.
The series now shifts to Rapid City for game six on Tuesday, with game seven set for Wednesday if Rapid City can secure a win. Rapid City returns home on the brink of elimination and must win both games to advance in the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup Playoffs.
Photos by Rich Guill (Sean Flynn Photography)