After earning and surrendering a two-goal lead in the first period, the El Paso Rhinos reeled off six straight goals to beat the Boulder Bison, 8-2, winning two of three games in the weekend series to improve to 5-3-1 on the season.
Four El Paso goals came on special teams. Ben Henne and Chip Callahan scored short-handed goals in the second and third periods while defensemen Kyle Shapiro and Tyler Benson notched power play goals in a four-goal second frame.
Henne earned First Star of the Game honors for his two goals, followed by Shapiro, who also scored twice, and Benson.
After a rough start Ryan Rivera also looked sharp in the final 40 minutes. Yari Neitenbach scored the Bison’s first goal lifting in a bouncing puck from the blue line that Rivera simply misjudged.
But after Jordan Heffner scored past a screened Rivera to tie the game with 1:02 left in the first, the Bison could not beat the diminutive dynamo from Las Vegas, NV.
The Rhinos are now two points behind the Tulsa Rampage in the middle of the five-team Mid-West Division with 11 points. The Texas Brahmas lead the Mid-West but have already played 14 games.
El Paso travels to Tulsa next weekend for a three-game series against Tulsa at the Oilers Ice Center Friday and Saturday, then at Tulsa’s 19,199-seat BOK Center at 12:30 p.m. CDT Sunday afternoon.
