RAPID CITY - Ten days short of his 37th birthday, Mark DeSantis showed he still has some wheels for the Rapid City Rush.
DeSantis found the net with 2:05 left in the second period, and Gio Flamminio added the game-winner with just 13 seconds left in the frame to help the Rush to a 4-2 Central Hockey League victory over the Tulsa Oilers on Friday night.
DeSantis took the feed from Derek LeBlanc and, with an Oilers defenseman bearing down, sprawled as he wristed the puck past Tulsa goalie Davis Parley. He then celebrated by sitting on the ice with his back to the boards.
"I knew there was a guy on me, and the goalie came out to challenge. I knew I had to make a move and I guessed right," said DeSantis, a defenseman and player-assistant, who scored his first goal since the CHL season-opener on Oct. 17.
The Oilers, trying to halt a four-game skid that included the dismissal of head coach Dan Hodge, jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Mike Mullen and Jason Lawmaster.
But Kyle Sheen answered with an unassisted netter to ignite a second consecutive comeback win for the Rush (10-12-7).
Jon Pelle's empty-netter with 24 seconds left sealed the deal for Rapid City.
Rush goaltender Lanny Ramage stopped 37 shots to pick up his first win on home ice in his first start since Dec. 16.
Being down 0-2 early didn't faze Ramage.
"You just have to refocus. I knew the boys would be there for me," Ramage said. "It's nice to pick up a win at home."
Davis Parley was making his first start in net for Tulsa after playing in the ECHL in South Carolina and in England.
Parley stopped
25-of-28 Rapid City shots before being pulled for an extra attacker with 51 seconds left.
Tulsa
(8-17-4) drew first blood when Mullen slapped it past Ramage at 4:58, then extended the lead when Beausoleil's shot to the left side the net rebounded off Ramage, leaving the right side of the goal virtually unchallenged for Lawmaster's putback.
"We came out flat in the first period and that team's got skill. If you don't put the body on them, they can make you look real silly, real fast,' said Rush head coach Joe Ferras.
Kyle Sheen's roundhouse slapshot from the right point put Rapid City on the board with 23.3 left in the frame.
"Huge, huge goal for Sheen at the end of the first period," Ferras said. 'You don't want to come into the second period down 0-2."
Derek LeBlanc and Rob Dmytruk each tallied two assists for Rapid City, with Rich Hansen and Luke Fritshaw credited with helpers on Pelle's empty netter.
"We had contributions from all three lines tonight and that was huge," Ferras said." Lanny made some saves tonight that were off the chart."
Earning assists for Tulsa were Sean Collins, Beausoleil and Jeff Christian.
"It was a great up-and-down game. We made a couple mistakes getting a little too aggressive on the fore-check and got caught, and boom, they capitalized," said Tulsa interim coach Taylor Hall. "This team has struggled a little bit, but all in all I thought we played a pretty solid 60 minutes."
Rapid City and Tulsa face off again tonight at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: Tulsa general manager Taylor Hall, filling in as Oiler's bench boss since Dan Hodge was relieved of his coaching duties on Dec. 29, named former Tulsa goalie Tony Martino as new head coach Friday. Martino was a former coach at WPHL New Mexico Scorpions and one of his players was current Rush head coach Joe Ferras … Rush forward Chris Di Ubaldo remains sidelined with a lower body injury sustained Dec. 27. His return is listed as day-to-day … Rapid City resident Gene Williams won a coach-for-a-night auction at a Rush benefit golf tournament in October and will join Ferras on the Rush bench tonight.
