SAN ANTONIO — Despite losing defenseman Jake Bischoff and forward Tyrell Goulbourne to injury early in the game, the Wolves rallied for a 4-2 victory against the Rampage on Saturday at the AT&T Center.
Forwards Curtis McKenzie, Gage Quinney and Valentin Zykov and defenseman Jaycob Megna scored for the Wolves (19-17-3-1), who knocked off the Rampage for the second consecutive night and extended their season-high road winning streak to five games.
Goalie Garret Sparks (5-11-3) stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced to earn his first victory since shutting out the Wild on Nov. 7.
Defenseman Derrick Pouliot gave the Rampage a 1-0 lead 4:15 into the game. The Rampage made a pair of risky passes pay off, which led to Pouliot walking in toward the net unchallenged and flicking a shot from the bottom of the left circle past Sparks.
McKenzie went nearly coast-to-coast to pull the Wolves even exactly 10 minutes in. He took a short pass from Zach Whitecloud in the defensive end, powered around Pouliot and held him off with his body while flipping a shot past Rampage goalie Adam Wilcox.
The Rampage regained the lead at 5:48 of the second when captain Jordan Nolan knocked home a rebound. The Wolves turned over the puck at center ice, which led to a two-on-one rush for the Rampage. Sparks stopped forward Nolan Stevens’ initial shot but had no chance to stop Nolan.
Though the Rampage outshot the Wolves 19-7 in the second, Quinney forged another tie at 17:05 of the period. Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt fired the puck from the left side toward heavy traffic at the net. The puck came to rest against the net a foot from the post. Quinney and fellow forward Brandon Pirri jabbed at the puck together, and Quinney banked it off Wilcox to make it 2-2.
The Wolves took their first lead with a little help from former Wolves defenseman Jake Walman. Zykov and Pirri motored down the ice on a two-on-one rush. Zykov lofted a pass across the slot, and Walman, rushing back to help his defensive partner, attempted to clear the pass but wound up swatting the puck past Wilcox at 8:16 of the third. Zykov received credit for what turned out to be the winning goal.
The Rampage enjoyed a six-on-four advantage in the final two minutes after drawing a tripping penalty against Whitecloud and pulling Wilcox to add another skater, but Megna scored a short-handed, empty-net goal with a minute left to seal the Wolves’ victory.
