Darren Abate/AHL
The San Antonio Rampage (6-1-0) are sitting atop the AHL standings and anyone paying attention has no idea how. Despite being soundly outplayed and outchanced for the fourth straight contest, the silver & black, once again, road a hot goalie’s coat tails to their 5th straight victory, defeating the visiting San Jose Barracuda 3-1 Friday night.
The Barracuda came out of the gates firing in the first period, registering the first five SOG in the opening minutes, many of them quality opportunities. Rampage goalie Ville Husso (2-1-0), however, was more than up to the task keeping the visitors at bay until Rocco Grimaldi put the Rampage ahead at 6:44 of the opening frame. With a 2-man advantage, Grimaldi cleaned up a Samuel Blais rebound and beat San Jose goalie Antoine Bibeau.
The Barracuda evened things up in the second on a scrambly play that saw Daniel O’Regan bang home a rebound. Just 13 seconds later, however, the Rampage would jump back ahead as Felix Girard charged the net and deflected a rebound off his skate past a sprawling Bibeau. Reid Petryk had the initial shot after a beautiful feed from Grimaldi.
The latter portion of the game saw very little 5 on 5 action as the referees decided to become part of the show. The teams combined for 22 minor penalties overall, 18 of which came in the final 35 minutes. Husso and the defense came up big time after time, though, and a Duncan Siemens’ empty netter in the final minute would seal the victory for the Rampage.
Streamables – (Courtesy of Nathan Rudolph @AvalancheReview)
Rampage 1 – Barracuda 0
1st Period (6:44) SA Rocco Grimaldi (2) ASST: Samuel Blais (2), Andrew Agozzino (6) PP
Rampage 1 – Barracuda 1
2nd Period (13:00) SJ Danny O’Regan (5) ASST: Adam Helewka (7), Olivier Archambault (1)
Rampage 2 – Barracuda 1
2nd period (13:13) – SA Felix Girard (2) ASST: Reid Petryk (2), Rocco Grimaldi (3)
Rampage 3 – Barracuda 1
3rd period (19:33) – SA Duncan Siemens (1) ASST: Trent Vogelhuber (1) EN
The Good
- Not to sound like a broken record, but another perfect night on the PK. Rampage are still perfect at home (17-17) while down a man and lead the league in PK% at 94.6%
- Ville Husso was magnificent in goal. Early this season, the Husso/Martin combo has saved the Rampage from being a middling team.
The Bad
- Through the first five games, I asked for some chances to be finished. Now I’d like some chances, period. The Rampage have been soundly outplayed for four straight games now.
- Despite scoring early on a 5×3, the power play looked disorganized and messy. Simple passes were made to look difficult and there just wasn’t enough scoring chances being created.
The Ugly
- The injuries in Colorado decided to rear their ugly heads early this season. As a result, both Andrew Agozzino and Rocco Grimaldi were called up after the game last night. This makes four top-6 Rampage forwards called up in the last week’s time.
The Rampage get right back at it tonight as they take on the visiting San Diego Gulls for the first time this season. I will not be in attendance as I have SAFC playoff soccer to attend. Tonight’s recap will be up in the morning. The game can be heard on Ticket760 or streamed on AHL Live.