Griffins Ground Stars in High-Scoring Affair

The Texas Stars fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins 6-4 Tuesday night at the H-E-B Center, dropping the first game of a two-game midweek series. Despite a resilient comeback effort, the Stars couldn’t overcome a determined Griffins squad.

“You got to give credit to them. They came into our building and took two points,” acknowledged Texas Stars head coach Neil Graham.

Grand Rapids established an early lead in the first period. After successfully killing off two Texas power plays, including a brief 5-on-3 advantage, Amadeus Lombardi scored on a wraparound at 7:31. Just three seconds after their own power play expired, Nate Danielson added another, his shot deflecting off the post and then off Stars goalie Remi Poirier into the net. The Griffins carried a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, outshooting the Stars 9-6.

Graham expressed his dissatisfaction with his team’s puck management in the opening frame. “I didn’t like a lot of our decisions with the puck where there wasn’t a lot of high-end generated plays. We also put ourselves into some real tough situations that they did a really good job on capitalizing on,” he stated.

The Stars mounted a spirited comeback in the second period. Arttu Hyry notched his 20th goal of the season, capitalizing on a Kole Lind centering pass. Moments later, Texas’ leading scorer, Matej Blumel, evened the score at 2-2 with a wrist shot. However, a late blocked shot led to a breakaway for Grand Rapids’ Cross Hanas, who beat Poirier to give the Griffins a 3-2 lead heading into the final frame.

Blumel quickly tied the game again just 1:01 into the third period, scoring on a Griffins turnover and moving into a tie for second in the AHL’s scoring race. Grand Rapids regained the lead on a power play, with Joe Snively firing a shot through traffic to make it 4-3. Brogan Rafferty extended the Griffins’ lead to 5-3 shortly after. Kyle McDonald pulled the Stars within one with a sharp-angle shot, but Carter Mazur sealed the victory for Grand Rapids with an empty-net goal.

Griffins goalie Sebastian Cossa made 23 saves on 27 shots, while Poirier stopped 15 of 20 shots for the Stars.

“We have to look in the mirror, again,” Graham emphasized. “What we talked about when we were winning a lot of hockey games, there’s usually a new guy stepping up in a positive way. In the last couple, we’ve had some guys step in a not-so-positive way. That’s all correctable.” The Stars will look to rebound in the second game of the series.