Four-Goal First Period Lifts Stars over Griffins

Oct 29, 2022

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, got back in the win column by claiming a 5-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins Saturday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

The Stars scored early and often with a four-goal first period to open Saturday’s contest. Riley Tufte opened the scoring at 2:45 when he cut to the net from the left side and slid the puck backhand past the left pad of Sebastian Cossa. At the 4:52 mark, Riley Barber made it 2-0 in the slot when he tapped in a pass from behind the net by Mavrik Bourque. Twenty-nine seconds later, Thomas Harley upped the lead to 3-0 at 5:20 with a wrist shot near the left circle. Stars’ defenseman Ben Gleason tucked the fourth and final goal at 18:11 on the powerplay to make it 4-0. The Stars and Griffins each totaled nine shots on goal in the opening period.

 

Grand Rapids skated to a 2-1 advantage in the middle period. Joel L’Esperance scored first for the Griffins 47 seconds into the period six minutes before Dominik Shine cut the Stars’ lead to 4-2 at 6:15. Texas reclaimed a three-goal lead when Fredrik Olofsson tapped in a backdoor pass from Jacob Peterson with 2:39 remaining in the period. With 40 minutes of play by the wayside, the Griffins led the Stars 18-16 in shots on goal.

 

The third period saw the Stars hang on to secure their fourth victory of the season by a final score of 5-2. After Texas outshot Grand Rapids 8-4 in the third, they came away with a 24-22 advantage in shots on goal for the night.

 

Between the pipes for the Stars, Matt Murray stopped 20 of 22 shots to earn his second win of the season. On the other end, Cossa suffered the loss while making 19 saves on 24 shots.

 

The Stars and Griffins face-off again for the two-game series finale Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. in Cedar Park.

Photo Credit: Ross Bonander

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 24	W: Murray (TEX)	1: Harley (TEX)
Photo	OPP: 22	L: Cossa (GR)	2: Barber (TEX)
Video			3: Studenic (TEX)