EL PASO, Texas – Hunter Allen scored twice and Daniel Duris stopped 26 shots as the Oklahoma Warriors won their 14th straight game with a 3-1 final over the El Paso Rhinos Friday.
Duris kept the Warriors in a scoreless game with a flurry of stops on an early El Paso net siege that saw three saves in just a few seconds. Allen then got the Warriors on the board at the 8:14 mark of the first period when he chipped in a loose puck from in front of the net. After helping win a board battle, Max Dronen took a shot from the far-side circle that was blocked and dropped down in a perfect spot for Allen. Duris was tasked with a few more in-tight stops before the end of the period, and the Warriors took their 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Allen began the scoring in the second period for Oklahoma, as he did in the first. Dronen won a defensive-end draw to Domenick Evtimov behind the Warriors net, and Evtimov kept it going up the near side wall. Allen got the puck through neutral ice off the wall in his own zone from Kaden Nelson, and went down on a breakaway to snipe his second of the game at 6:07. Later in the period, Brendan Williams added to the Warriors’ total. After getting a bouncing puck from Rylan Brady, Owen Baumgartner jumped past a Rhino defenseman at the blueline and fed Brendan Williams. Williams made a hard cut in front of the net and made it 3-0 with 3:53 left in the second.
The Rhinos added a goal in the final minute to ruin the shutout bid, but the Warriors came out on top 3-1 for the team’s 14th straight win.
The Warriors and Rhinos faceoff for the second game of the weekend series at 7 p.m. local time at the El Paso County Events Center Saturday.