Oct. 29, 2022

CEDAR PARK, Texas - The Texas Stars used three goals in the opening 5:20 of play to overcome the Grand Rapids Griffins, taking a 5-2 victory at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park on Saturday.

Joel L’Esperance, in his return to Texas after skating with the club from 2017-22, managed to record his third tally of the season via a Jonatan Berggren assist. Dominik Shine recorded a goal for his second straight contest while Sebastian Cossa (19 saves) saw his three-game overall win streak come to an end in net.

The Stars scored three tallies in the first 5:20 as Riley Tufte, Thomas Harley and former Griffin Riley Barber took advantage of a slow start by Grand Rapids. Ben Gleason capped off the period for Texas with a power-play goal from the slot at 18:11 to make it 4-0 heading into the first intermission.

The Griffins responded with urgency in the middle stanza when L’Esperance capitalized on a power play with a deflection goal from the crease off Berggren’s shot to cut the lead to three just 47 seconds in. Shine gathered Austin Czarnik’s pass from the left wing and slid it past Matthew Murray from between the circles, making it 4-2 at 6:15.

However, Jacob Peterson boosted Texas’ lead back to three as he maneuvered around the Grand Rapids defense, passed the puck to Fredrik Olofsson in the crease for a goal with 2:39 left in the second.

The pace dropped dramatically in the third period with no points scored. The best chances came when the Griffins were on a power play at 17:07, but Grand Rapids was unable to capitalize and fell to the Stars 5-2.

Notes
- The Griffins were without forwards Matt Luff and Givani Smith who were both recalled to the Detroit Red Wings prior to the weekend series against Texas.
- The Griffins dropped to 35-23-4-4 against the Texas Stars all time.

Box Score
Grand Rapids 0 2 0 - 2
Texas 4 1 0 - 5

1st Period-1, Texas, Tufte 1 (Harley, Studenic), 2:45. 2, Texas, Barber 5 (Bourque, Kero), 4:51. 3, Texas, Harley 1 (Kero, Barber), 5:20. 4, Texas, Gleason 2 (Harley, Peterson), 18:11 (PP). Penalties-Criscuolo Gr (high-sticking), 12:08; Criscuolo Gr (tripping), 16:43.

2nd Period-5, Grand Rapids, L’Esperance 3 (Hirose, Berggren), 0:47 (PP). 6, Grand Rapids, Shine 2 (Czarnik, Lashoff), 6:15. 7, Texas, Olofsson 1 (Peterson, Studenic), 17:21. Penalties-McKenzie Tex (slashing), 0:39; Edvinsson Gr (tripping), 12:32.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Berggren Gr (roughing), 7:01; Ducharme Tex (roughing), 7:01; Sebrango Gr (kneeing), 11:39; Bourque Tex (cross-checking), 17:07; Petrovic Tex (major - cross-checking, game misconduct - cross-checking), 19:20; Gardner Tex (roughing), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 9-9-4-22. Texas 9-7-8-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 1 / 3; Texas 1 / 4.
Goalies-Grand Rapids, Cossa 1-1-0 (24 shots-19 saves). Texas, Murray 2-2-0 (22 shots-20 saves).
A-5,338

Three Stars
1. TEX Harley (goal, two assists); 2. TEX Barber (goal, assist); 3. TEX Marian Studenic (two assists).

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 3-3-0-0 (6 pts.) / Sun., Oct. 30 at Texas Stars 6 p.m. EDT
Texas: 4-2-0-1 (9 pts.) / Sun., Oct. 30 vs. Grand Rapids Griffins 5 p.m. CDT

Photo by Ross Bonander/Stars