After the Griffins made it 4-4, Coach Weber felt that the Rampage made a strong chance to comeback to regain the lead but were unable to find a game leading goal, "From the opening drop of the 3rd period till it was 4-4, it was ugly hockey by us. ", Weber in his frustration's of the team's play in the 3rd period that lead to the Shootout Loss.
After the Rampage & Griffins played in a frantic OT where neither side was able to score on their 4 SOG. It was Chris Minard who scored a Shootout Goal in addition to his 2 in the game while Louis-Marc Aubry that put the game away when he put it past Rampage Goalie Jacob Markstrom to earn a, 5-4, win that put the Rampage in a 3 way tie for the 8th & Final Playoff Spot in the Western Conference with the Rochester Americans (13 GR) who thanks to having a game in hand over San Antonio (12 GR) & two games in hand against Lake Erie (11GR). Rochester currently holds down the 8th & Final Playoff spot with the Rampage having just 12 games left in the regular season.
Instead of being in a tie for 7th with Charlotte where they would be firmly in the playoffs at this point as it's beginning to look like teams like the Abbotsford Heat (Currently 6th), Peoria Rivermen (Currently 5th) & Houston Aeros (Currently 4th) are looking to officially pull away from this pack and firmly secure their playoff spots with a dozen games left in the season.
If that comes scenario happens, you could have a situation where San Antonio will be battling Rochester (currently 8th), Charlotte (currently 7th) & Lake Erie (currently 10th) as the 4 teams are fighting for the final 2 playoff spots with the possibility of Grand Rapids (currently 11th) who are looking to get into this battle as the Griffins have been playing red hot hockey by winning 4 of their last 5 games including an impressive 5-2 win over Houston back on March 11.
San Antonio & Grand Rapids will play again in San Antonio tomorrow night. After tomorrow night, the Griffins will continue their Southwest Road Trip when they head North to Oklahoma City for a pair of games against the Barons Saturday, March 24 & Sunday, March 25.
Click on the Game Highlights & Post Game Comments for Info on last night's Game.
Here's the San Antonio Rampage Remaining Regular Season Schedule
3/22: VS. Grand Rapids Griffins 7:00 PM
3/24: @ Abbotsford Heat 9:00 PM
3/25: @ Abbotsford Heat 3:00 PM
3/28: VS. Hamilton Bulldogs 7:00 PM
3/31: @ Rockford Ice Hogs 7:05 PM
4/1: @ Peoria Rivermen 5:00 PM
4/4: VS. Chicago Wolves 7:00 PM
4/7: VS. Milwaukee Admirals 7:00 PM
4/10: VS. Milwaukee Admirals 7:00 PM
4/13: VS. Texas Stars 7:00 PM
4/14: @ Houston Aeros 7:35 PM
4/15: VS. Oklahoma City Barons 3:30 PM
From San Antonio, Texas: The San Antonio Rampage were defeated by the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-4 in a shootout at the AT&T Center on Tuesday Night. The Rampage received multi point effort from forwards Bill Thomas (2G 1A), and Mark Cullen (two assists) in the loss.
San Antonio forward Bracken Kearns scored a power play goal 6:32 into the opening frame to put the Rampage ahead 1-0. He corralled the rebound of his own shot and deposed the puck behind Grand Rapids backstop Tom McCollum for his 16th marker of the year of the year. Thomas Cullen picked up assist on the play.
The Rampage extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Thomas at 12:57 of the first. He registered his 21st goal of the year on a shot from the left circle that soared past McCollum's left arm. Defensemen Colby Robak notched the lone helper on the Thomas marker.
Right wing Michael Repoik potted his 13th goal of the year on a one-timer to give San Antonio a 3-0 edge at the 2:31 mark of the second period. He took a pass from center Joe Matsumoto and fired a shot past McCollum's glove for the score. Left wing Ondrej Roman recorded the secondary assist on the third San Antonio goal.
Grand Rapids answered with a tally of their own nearly two minutes later when Griffins cashed in a two-on-one rush. Left Wing Chris Minard received a pass from inside the crease from center Jamie Johnson and the tucked the puck behind Rampage netminder Jacob Markstom for his 14th goal of the campaign. The secondary assist on the play went to right wing Chris Conner.
The Rampage restored their three goal lead 11:03 of the second period with Thomas' second goal of the contest. His backhander from the slot found its way past McCollum and put San Antonio ahead 4-1. Cullen and Caruso were credited with the assists on Thomas' 22nd goal of 2011-2012.
Griffins left wing Tomas Tatar at the 4:44 mark of the third to make it a 4-2 count in favor of San Antonio. Tatar recorded his 16th goal of the year with a wrister from the top of the crease that snuck through Markstorm's legs. Center Joakim Andersson and right wing Francis Pare picked up the helpers with the Tatar score.
Minard's second goal of the evening came at the 5:59 mark of the final frame brought the Griffins to within one goal, at 4-3. He took a pass from Johnson and ripped a shot over Markstorm's left shoulder for his 15th marker of the season. Defenseman Gleason Fournier tallied the secondary assist on the play.
The Griffins scored the third goal of the in a 2:07 span to knot the score at 4-4. Andersson found a cutting Tatar in the slot and Tatar buried a one timer into the net to record his 17th goal of 2011-2012. Pare notched his second assist of the game with the alternate helper on the Tatar score.
After a scoreless OT Period, Griffins center Louis-Marc Aubry recorded the game winning goal in the seventh round of the shootout to hand the Griffins the victory.
McCollum made 41 saves on 45 Rampage shots for his seventh win of the season. He also stopped six of the seven shots he faced in the shootout. Markstom denied the Griffins 30 of 34 attempts and made five stops on seven shots in the shootout.
San Antonio (33-26-5, 71 PTS) and Grand Rapids face off again at the AT&T Center on Thursday at 7:00 PM (CST) to conclude their two game set.
