The Mississippi RiverKings were all but powerless against "Batman" and the rest of the Rapid City Rush defense Friday night.
Rush goalie Danny Battochio lived up to his caped crime-fighter nickname with his second win between the pipes, while Brendon Hodge, Les Reaney, Scott Wray and Derek Campbell lit the lamp for a 5-1 Central Hockey League victory at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena.
Battochio made 27 saves, and the Rush defense, maligned for giving up goals in bunches in recent outings, was rock solid all night and bulletproof in turning away 10 Mississippi power plays.
"We played awesome for 60 minutes, offense, defense, everything. That makes my job a lot easier. I just managed to make some big saves when the boys needed it, when it was closer," Battochio said.
On the attack, Rapid City set the tone with a three-goal outburst, two coming on the man-advantage, in the first period.
"Everybody played solid all night," Rush head coach Joe Ferras said. "Danny played fantastic and to hold a team like that to 0-for-10 on the power play is incredible."
Hodge and Wray each tallied their fourth goals of the season while Les
Reaney scored twice to push his total to seven and added an assist for his 10th point.
"We cycled the puck real well and scored when we had our chances," Ferras said.
Reaney's second tally chased RiverKings' starting goalie Ray Jea from the net at 13:33 in the second period. Ian Keserich finished the night in net for Mississippi.
Reaney's helper set up Campbell's first netter in a Rush uniform midway through the third period.
"It was good to get that monkey off my back and get the first one in," Campbell said. "Reaney's a great playmaker. He found me and it worked out well."
The loss puts Mississippi at 2-2-0 in road games and 5-5-0 overall.
"It was disappointing. We couldn't get any forecheck or flow through the neutral zone. They stifled anything we threw at them," said RiverKings substitute coach Andrew Lackner, filling in after head coach Kevin Kaminski left the team Friday because of a family emergency.
Lackner, a defenseman, is currently on injured reserve and will fill in for Kaminski this weekend.
Rapid City improves to 4-3-0. The Northern Conference rivals clash again tonight at the Ice Arena at 7:05 p.m.
