Amarillo, TX – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the El Paso Rhinos 3-2 in overtime at the Budweiser Bull Pen on Friday night. Topi Puikkonen’s 19th goal of the season was the game-winner, as the Wranglers took down the Rhinos in overtime.
The Wranglers met for the third straight time and the fifth time on the season at the Bull Pen in Amarillo, after splitting a two-game set over at El Paso County Events Center last weekend. Connor McDonough made his seventh consecutive start between the pipes for Amarillo, entering the game with a record of 20-11-4-2, a 2.29 GAA, and a .910 save percentage. The Rhinos opted to go with Michael Manzi in net for the second straight game after he recorded a 17-save shutout on Saturday night. Manzi entered play with a record of 10-4, a 1.94 GAA, and a .919 save percentage.
There was no scoring in the first period, but the Wranglers came out buzzing to begin the game. Amarillo jumped out to an early lead in the shot count, but a couple of late power plays for El Paso helped them catch up with shots being 10-8 in favor of Amarillo at the end of the first period. Amarillo went 2/2 on the penalty kill in the first frame, while the Rhinos went 1/1.
Things blew wide open in the second period with both teams scoring two goals apiece in the second frame. Grayson Gerhard opened the scoring for Amarillo just 56 seconds into the period with his second goal of the season from Ben Ivey. Both of Gerhard’s goals have come against the Rhinos as he recorded his first NAHL goal in El Paso on 11/25. A little over midway through the period the Rhinos tied the game up at 1-1 with a goal from Eddie Shepler, assisted by Tim Mathys and AJ Reed. Amarillo countered that with a goal 1:24 later, with Trace Day finding Jacob Miller all alone streaking toward the goal for the score. Miller’s third goal of the season was also assisted by TJ Richey as the Wranglers went up 2-1 with 7:48 to go in the second period. But that lead didn’t last for long, as the Rhinos tied the game up once again with a goal from Paavo Hiltunen to even the game at 2-2. Hiltunen fired the puck into traffic, and it found the back of the net for the score. Bradley Walker and AJ Reed earned the assists. Tied 2-2 at the end of two periods, the Wranglers led the shot count 21-16.
There was no scoring in the third period with both teams trading chances at either end in a fast-paced period. Connor McDonough kept the Rhinos off the board with some timely saves in the third period to give the Wranglers a chance to win. At the end of regulation, Amarillo had outshot El Paso 27-23.
The Wranglers prevailed in overtime as Topi Puikkonen buried his 19th goal of the season from Nolan Gagnon to settle the score at 3-2 and lift the Wranglers to victory. Amarillo is now 8-5 in overtime games this season and improves to 25-15-5-2 on the year with the victory.
The Wranglers and Rhinos will wrap up the two-game set on Saturday night on First Responders Night presented by Smoke Wagon Beard Balm. The Wranglers will be auctioning their specialty jerseys off following the game in the Corral area of the Amarillo Civic Center. Puck drop is at 7:15, you can get your tickets at panhandletickets.com, or tune in on NATV and YouTube.