Eight different El Paso players found the back of the net and goaltender Arthur Hollinger turned away 22 of 23 San Antonio shots as the Rhinos outgunned the Diablos, 8-1, in the Alamo City Saturday night.
After a scoreless first period, El Paso’s Austin Balko was first to score a goal at 5:52 of the second period.
The Rhinos then struck with two more goals just 40 seconds apart, as Eric LaBounty and Zach Goller beat San Antonio goalie Anthony Maroney at 8:11 and 8:51 of the second.
Malcolm Richards finally broke through against El Paso’s defense, scoring an unassisted goal at 11:45 of the second, but the Rhinos weren’t done. Zach Kohn scored a short-handed goal at 13:43 to make it 4-1 for the visitors at the second intermission.
The third period was all El Paso, as Billy Krueger got things rolling with a goal at 6:22, followed by his linemate, Nick Gorup, on the power play at 9:28.
Just over a minute later, defenseman Drew Montague got his second goal in as many nights, beating Maroney at 10:40.
Appropriately, T.J. Burger got the last word for a hard-working fourth line with a goal at 16:58, and El Paso stays perfect on the road with a 14-0-0 mark.
Hollinger improved to 11-1-0 on the season, dropping his goals-against average to a miniscule 2.08.
Overall, the Rhinos pace the Mid-West Division of the Western States Hockey League with a 19-1-0 record heading into tomorrow afternoon’s series-ending game against the Diablos.
San Antonio earned a point by taking El Paso to overtime in Friday night’s 6-5 Rhinos win, and remains in third place at 16-5-1 and with 33 points, two points behind the Tulsa Rampage.
El Paso returns to the Sierra Providence Events Center for a three-game weekend series with the Texas Renegades beginning Friday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. For information or tickets, head to the Rhinos website (www.elpasorhinos.com) or call 915.479.PUCK (7825).
