CEDAR PARK, Texas -- In their first trip to the Lone Star State this year, the Grand Rapids Griffins knocked off the Texas Stars 4-2 on Tuesday at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. 

Grand Rapids is 14-0-0-0 when scoring three or more goals. Sheldon Dries secured the game-winner, good for his team-high 11th goal and his fourth in the last five games. Austin Watson (1-1—2) and Joe Snively (0-2—2) tallied a pair of points in the outing while William Wallinder found the back of the net for the first time this season. Goaltender Jack Campbell got the start and earned his first win as a Griffin (1-2-0), saving 20 shots. Campbell improved to a .917 save percentage and a 2.37 goals-against average. 

The Stars struck first at 11:07 in the first period when Arttu Hyry deflected a shot past Campbell. Grand Rapids quickly retaliated with 6:52 left in the frame, as Gabriel Seger scored his fourth goal of the campaign. Josiah Didier fired a shot towards the goalmouth and Seger tipped it home to tie the game. 

Just 4:41 into the second period, the Griffins took the lead thanks to Wallinder. Nate Danielson went behind the net and sent a pass to Wallinder at the top of the left circle who buried the one-timer. During a Texas power play, Tim Gettinger stole the puck and skated on a breakaway but was held back by a Stars defender, giving the Griffins a penalty shot at 15:21. However, Gettinger’s attempt sailed wide. The score remained 2-1 until Justin Hryckowian scored during a 4-on-4 with 20 seconds remaining in the second. 

The back-and-forth outing continued, as Dries gave Grand Rapids its lead back 1:51 into the final frame. A snipe from Shai Buium deflected off the netminder and Dries batted the rebound out of midair past Magnus Hellberg. The Stars pulled Hellberg with two minutes remaining but Watson scored on the empty net at 18:18. The Griffins maintained their lead and skated away with a 4-2 win. 

Notes 

• Snively increased his point streak to three (1-3—4).
• Watson tallied his ninth point in the last ten games (6-3—9).
• Gettinger skated in his 300th AHL game.
• The Griffins will conclude their season-high six-game road trip Wed., Dec. 18, in a rematch against the Stars.

Box Score

Grand Rapids 1 1 2 - 4
Texas 1 1 0 - 2

1st Period-1, Texas, Hyry 9 (Capobianco, Krys), 11:07. 2, Grand Rapids, Seger 4 (Didier, Rychlovsky), 13:08. Penalties-Lind Tex (holding the stick), 16:32.

2nd Period-3, Grand Rapids, Wallinder 1 (Snively, Watson), 4:41. 4, Texas, Hryckowian 9 (Pettersen, Petrovic), 19:40. Penalties-Capobianco Tex (tripping), 0:58; Stranges Tex (hooking), 8:49; Watson Gr (tripping), 13:40; Viro Gr (roughing), 19:05; Hughes Tex (roughing), 19:05.

3rd Period-5, Grand Rapids, Dries 11 (Buium, Shine), 1:51. 6, Grand Rapids, Watson 8 (Snively, Tuomisto), 18:18 (EN). Penalties-Shine Gr (closing hand on puck), 8:53.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 12-4-4-20. Texas 8-9-5-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 0 / 3; Texas 0 / 2.
Goalies-Grand Rapids, Campbell 1-2-0 (22 shots-20 saves). Texas, Hellberg 9-4-1 (19 shots-16 saves).
A-4,811

Three Stars 

1. GR Dries (game-winner); 2. TEX Hryckowian (goal); 3. GR Campbell (W, 20 saves) 

Record/Next Game 

Grand Rapids: 17-8-1-0 (35 pts.) / Wed., Dec. 18 at Texas 8 p.m. EST

Texas: 12-11-1-0 (25 pts.) / Wed., Dec. 18 vs. Grand Rapids 7 p.m. CST 

Photo by Texas Stars