MOLINE, Ill. – Gergo Nagy scored twice and Thomas Heemskerk made 33 saves as the host Quad City Mallards defeated the Rapid City Rush 4-2 Friday night. The win was the Mallards’ (23-11-8, 54 points) third in a row while the defeat was the Rush’s (28-18-0, 56 points) fifth in succession.
After Nagy twice gave the Mallards the lead in the first period it was Jeff Lee who put Quad City on top for good at 11:27 of the second period. The Mallards were on the power play when Lee buried a rebound to snap a 2-2 deadlock.
With just 2:59 left in the third period, Justin Fox clinched the win by sweeping the fourth Mallard goal home between Rapid City goaltender Tim Boron’s pads from the right wing circle.
Fox finally put the game beyond Rapid City’s reach after the Rush had twice come from behind to even the score earlier in the evening. Just 46 seconds after Nagy tipped in the opening goal at 4:29 of the first period Rapid City’s Bob Preece tied the game from the left point. Nagy put the Mallards back on top at 16:44 of the first with a blast from the top of the left wing circle. Jared Brown would knot the game again at 3:37 of the second period when his drive from the top of the right circle was deflected past Heemskerk but the Rush would not beat the Mallard goaltender again.
The Mallards host the Rush again tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. The first 1,000 fans through the doors for tomorrow evening’s game will receive free Terry Ruskowski bobblehead dolls courtesy of KWQC TV6.
Tickets for tomorrow night’s game and all Mallards regular season home games can be purchased at the iWireless Center ticket office, Ticketmaster outlets, through ticketmaster.com or through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000. The ticket office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and on game days from 10:00 a.m. until the start of the second period.
With Quad City Mallards team release
Photos courtesy of Rich Guill (Sean Flynn Photography)