LAKE TAHOE, Nev. – The Tahoe Knight Monsters started off the first two games of a series against the Rapid City Rush with victories, but couldn’t make it a sweep after a loss Saturday.

WEDNESDAY

The Tahoe Knight Monsters started their three-game road set against the Rapid City Rush with a 5-4 overtime win on Wednesday night.    

Tahoe got the scoring started early, as Sloan Stanick notched his league-leading seventh goal of the season to make it 1-0 Knight Monsters. Cody Laskosky would add on his third of the year just three minutes later to make it 2-0, but Ryan Wagner struck for Rapid City in the final 45 seconds on the power play to cut the Knight Monsters’ lead to 1 headed into the first intermission.

In period number two, it was all Rush. Carter Wilkie scored in the opening minute to tie the game, and later on, Cameron Buhl would add a goal short-handed to make it 3-2 Rapid City. With just 19 seconds left in the period, Rapid City put one more on the board from Blake Bennett to make it 4-2 Rush after two.  

But in the third, it was the Knight Monsters’ turn to control the game. Captain Luke Adam scored in the opening two minutes of the period to make it 4-3 Rapid City, and it was Vegas-contracted forward Trent Swick who tied the game at the 16:21 mark, which would later be enough to force overtime.

In OT, on the Knight Monsters’ seventh shot of the extra frame, it was Jake McGrew burying a behind-the-net pass from Mike O’Leary to give Tahoe the 5-4 win and three straight wins on this road trip. Goaltender Jordan Papirny was locked in between the pipes, stopping 42 of 46 Rapid City shots.

FRIDAY

The Tahoe Knight Monsters won their fourth consecutive game on Friday night with a 5-3 victory over the Rapid City Rush.     

In the first period, it was Ryan Wagner opening the scoring for the Rush to make it 1-0; however, Mike O’Leary would tie the game on the power play, and Samuel Mayer scored in the final five minutes of the period to give Tahoe a 2-1 lead after the first 20.

In the middle frame, Briley Wood knotted the game up for the Rush with his second goal of the season, but Tahoe would respond again, as Nate Kallen struck on the power play to give the Knight Monsters a 3-2 lead headed into the final period of action.  

In the third, Tahoe showed off the full ability of its special teams units. With the Tahoe penalty kill already 3-for-3, Sloan Stanick broke free and scored a short-handed tally to give the Knight Monsters a 4-2 advantage. Rasmus Ekström would cut into the Rapid City deficit at the 10:02 mark to make it 4-3, but Samuel Mayer would score again, with a sharp-angle shot on the power play, giving the Knight Monsters three power play goals on three attempts as they collected a 5-3 road win.

Jordan Papirny had another fantastic night in net, stopping 38 of 41 Rapid City shots. Tahoe’s special teams were the shining light in this contest, as the Knight Monsters finished the game with a 100 percent success rate on both the power play and penalty kill.

SATURDAY

 The Tahoe Knight Monsters fell to the Rapid City Rush on Saturday evening, 5-2.     

In the opening 20, Tahoe looked to be in control of the game. Artur Cholach got the scoring opened up with his first goal of the season to make it 1-0 Knight Monsters. Luke Adam would later add on a power play goal on the extended man advantage to put Tahoe up by a pair heading into the locker room.

In the second, Rasmus Ekström continued to stay hot for the Rush as he put a Rapid City power play goal on the board to cut the lead to one heading into the final period. After 40 minutes of play, Tahoe goaltender Zane McIntyre had 25 saves on 26 shots.

However, in the third, it was all Rapid City as Carter Wilkie scored to tie the game at 2 at the 7:47 mark. Just 12 seconds later, Ekström would find the back of the net again, giving him his second of the night, and giving the Rush a 3-2 lead. After Ryan Wagner scored a late goal in the third to make it 4-2, Wilkie added on to the scoring with an empty-net insurance marker in the final 90 seconds to give the Rush a 5-2 victory.

Tahoe will be on the road again next week against the Greensboro Gargoyles, with game one of the three-game series taking place on Thursday, November 13, with puck drop at 4:00 pm PT. Pregame coverage on the Knight Monsters broadcast network will be live at 3:50 pm.

The Knight Monsters are the ECHL Affiliate of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights,

The Knight Monsters return home on Thursday, November 20, to take on the Savannah Ghost Pirates at Tahoe Blue Event Center. Puck drop is at 10:30 am. Ticket packages for the 2025-26 season are now available.  For more information, visit www.knightmonstershockey.com