Griffins Top Stars 4-1 in Front of Sellout Crowd at Cedar Park Center

Jan 25, 2014

In front of a sellout crowd of 6,863 fans at Cedar Park Center the Texas Stars fell short to the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-1. The loss snaps Texas’ franchise record 12-game home winning streak and 13-game home point streak.

After a scoreless first period, the Stars opened the scoring at 1:51 of the middle frame. Chris Mueller blazed a Scott Glennie drop pass over the glove of Tom McCollum from the middle of the right circle for his 19th goal of the season. It would be the only blemish of the evening for the Griffins’ goaltender. The Stars’ lead would not last long, as just 73 seconds later Mitch Callahan picked up the puck off a Calle Jarnkrok faceoff win, took it around the left circle and snapped a shot over Texas goalie Josh Robinson. Nine minutes through the period, Andrej Nestrasil scored directly off a faceoff, when he one-timed the puck drop through the legs of Robinson to put Grand Rapids in front. Then a mere 43 seconds, Landon Ferraro scored a power-play goal to give the Griffins an insurance tally. With just under five minutes left in the period, Ferraro would stretch the Grand Rapids lead to three when he scored his second goal of the night, deflecting a Jordin Tootoo centering feed past Robinson. The Stars out-shot the Griffins 12-11 in the frame, and out-chanced them 9-5, but found themselves trailing by three heading into the final 20 minutes.

McCollum continued his strong play in the third period, even denying Cameron Gaunce’s shorthanded breakaway to help usher the Griffins to a 4-1 victory.

Tom McCollum turned in an excellent performance in goal for Grand Rapids, stopping 33-of-34 shots to record his 18th win over the season, the second most victories in the AHL. Josh Robinson finished with 28 saves on 32 shots in the losing effort in goal for Texas. The Stars out-shot the Griffins 34-32 in the game and went 0-for-5 on the power play. Grand Rapids finished 1-for-4 with the man-advantage.