Despite scoring more than two regulation goals in a game for the first time in nine games, the Rapid City Rush were unable to pick up their first win streak of the season on Saturday night. Bloomington Blaze stars Jon Booras and Dan Barczuk each buried a pair of goals and posted three-point nights en route to a 6-4 win at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The Rush are off until Tuesday when they return to the Quad Cities to face the Mallards at 6:05PM MST and the game can be heard live on 100.3 the FOX or foxradio.com.

Heading into the game, the Blaze ranked tops in the league in offense while at the same time, allowed the second-most goals. That held true in the first period as the Rush and Blaze shared five goals, tying a Rush season record for most combined goals in a period. Playing in just his second game in a Rush uniform, Dan Gendur earned his first point for Rapid City, setting up Jared Brown for his 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. The Blaze answered back with two goals in thirty seconds, the first coming from leading scorer Jon Booras and the second from Jared Walker to take a 2-1 lead 7:23 into the game. With four minutes to go in the period, Damian Surma and Winston Day Chief capitalized on a 2-on-1 for Day Chief’s third goal of the season. However, in the final minute, a defensive zone turnover by the Rush led to a go-ahead goal by Travis Granbois to give Bloomington a 3-2 advantage.

For the fifth time in their last ten contests, the Rapid City Rush needed more than 60 minutes to decide the winner of the game on Friday night. Powered by goals from Damian Surma and Rusty Masters, along with eight shootout saves from goaltender Tim Boron, the Rush edged the Quad City Mallards 3-2 at the i-wireless Center. The Rush have now come away with victories in each of their last six games that have gone to extra time. Rapid City’s next game is tomorrow against the Bloomington Blaze at U.S. Cellular Coliseum beginning at 6:05PM MST.

Despite a heavy shot advantage for the Rush in the early going, it was the Mallards who struck on their first shot of the game at 8:46. After winning a battle in the corner, Mike Hellyer bolted to the goal mouth where a Rush defenseman aimed for a stick check, but deflected the puck in past Boron.

With 17 more shots in the second period, the Rush finally broke through Mallards goaltender John Murray to even the score at the 13:57 mark. After constant pressure in the offensive end, a cycle eventually led to a flurry at the goal mouth and a loose puck for Damian Surma who swept home his 15th of the season.