The two losses move New Mexico to 1-4-3 this season.
RIO RANCHO — October was not kind to the New Mexico Goatheads. The team finished the month being swept in a two-game series against the Rapid City Rush Oct. 30-31 in the Rio Rancho Events Center.
On Friday, Rapid City (5-2-0) avenged a two-goal deficit to defeat New Mexico (1-4-3) 4-3 in overtime. The Rush blew out the Goatheads 6-1 on Saturday.
In eight October games, the Goatheads won just once, with three losses coming in overtime. New Mexico is still seeking its first home win in team history.
Though the series was abbreviated, Rapid City was still going to be a challenge for New Mexico. The Rush entered the weekend second out of 15 teams in the Western Conference standings, having helped themselves with this past weekend's results. Rapid City improved to a 4-0 road record and remains one of the ECHL's hottest teams.
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Friday was New Mexico's best shot at getting a home win yet. The Goatheads started out strong. Grant Achan scored 4:16 into the first period, giving New Mexico a 1-0 lead that would hold through the period. In the second, New Mexico's Derek Daschke extended the lead to 2-0 midway through.
However, the Goatheads did not close out the period well. The Rush's Quinn Olson scored on a four-on-three power play to put Rapid City on the board with less than three minutes remaining. New Mexico quickly answered when Lynden Breen scored 50 seconds later. However, Rapid City avenged that goal even quicker than the Goatheads did. The Rush's Ryan Wagner scored just 21 seconds after Breen.
While New Mexico led 3-2 going into the final frame, Rapid City had momentum and kept up the strong play to close out the game. Ryan Hofer tied the game with a rebound goal early in the third period to tie the game at three. In overtime, Jake Ratzlaff scored on a one-timer to win it. Despite the Goatheads' start, Rapid City (48) nearly doubled New Mexico (26) in shots on goal.
Saturday's game did not have nearly the same excitement as Friday's. Halloween night was all Rush from the jump. Rapid City's Logan Nelson scored following a faceoff just 1:08 into the contest. Later in the period, Nelson would score again to extend the lead to two.
Unlike Friday, there was not a thrilling comeback. Rapid City went on to score three goals in the second period, one each from Seth Fyten, Will Portokalis and Ratzlaff. The Rush would go up 6-0 after an Eric Parker goal early in the third period.
New Mexico avoided the shutout by the slimmest of margins. German Yavaş scored on a breakaway goal with 12.6 seconds remaining, ending a streak of nine consecutive goals by the Rush.
While the score between the two games is vastly different, Rapid City's offensive aggressiveness remained a constant. The Rush (34) again nearly doubled the Goatheads (18) in shots on goal.
The Goatheads will look for their first home win in team history this weekend as they will host the Allen Americans (4-2) Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the Rio Rancho Events Center. Allen is currently sixth out of 15 teams in the Western Conference standings with eight points, while the Goatheads are tied for last with five.
