RAPID CITY- Scoring a goal when your hockey team is down a player is like icing on the cake.

That was certainly the case for the Rapid City Rush, which notched its first-ever short-handed goal in last Sunday's 4-2 win over the Wichita Thunder.

With a tenuous 3-2 lead over the Thunder early in the third period, and with Wichita in power play mode because of a hooking penalty called on Rapid City's Blair Manning, the Rush's Central Hockey League player of the month, forward Rich Hansen, corralled the puck on a breakaway set up off of assists from Gio Flamminio and Chris Lipsett. Hansen beat both a Wichita defenseman and goalie Krister Toews to put an exclamation point on Rapid City's second win of the season.

swing, it's just enormous. Those are game-breakers at the professional level," said Rapid City coach Joe Ferras.

Hansen, who had two assists along with the shorthander, said Rapid City's penalty-kill broke up a Thunder power play near the blue line on the Rapid City zone.

"A lot of times in a power-play, they get a little lackadaisical, and they think they don't have to outnumber the guys down low. If a penalty kill is working real hard, sometimes they can make good things happen," Ferras said.

Hansen said the Wichita defensemen were caught flat-footed, so he just tried to get a jump on them.

Lipsett deflected the puck, and Flamminio saw a chance to push it ahead to Hansen.

"Gio kind of sauced one off the boards. I skated into it and had the defenseman beaten and just walked one in. Lucky shot," Hansen said. "The puck was rolling the entire time. I just thought, I've got to shoot it, and it trickled in."

Flamminio said the goal was a big lift to the entire team.

"It was a huge insurance goal for sure. One lucky bounce and it's a new game," Flamminio said. "In their building that would have been bad for us if they had tied it up."

The goal also helped Rapid City goalie Lanny Ramage notch his first win in his second start.

"It was a morale booster," Ramage said. "When the boys can get a goal on penalty kill, that helps me out a lot. It was a huge goal."

Shorthanders are a welcome bonus, but Ferras said special teams also need to guard against being too aggressive in going after the scoring opportunities.

"It's a Catch-22. If you're the team that gets one, it can absolutely demoralize another team. If you're the team that gets scored on with a shorthanded goal, it picks up the other team," he said.

"I don't think we're out there looking for (shorthanded goals). They just kind of happen. If the opportunity presents itself, fine," Hansen said. "We don't want to get too aggressive and cost us a goal."

It's all a part of an explosive game where unpredictability reigns.

"Sometimes if you have fast forwards who can read a turnover, anything can happen," Flamminio said.

Rush notes: Rapid City players received a visit from former New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan Wednesday.

Nolan has ties with Rapid City coach Joe Ferras, who was an assistant coach with the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate Bridgeport, Conn., before coming to Rapid City.

Nolan addressed the team before a practice at the Roosevelt Ice Arena.

"He said have fun and don't take it for granted," Ramage said. "It's not about the wins and losses. It's about the experiences you have throughout the years."

"Everybody knows Ted Nolan. He was coach of the year at Buffalo," Hansen said. "He's been through it all. He's played and coached at the highest level. He said if you can't have fun, maybe you should plan to move on."