Stars Open Road Trip with 3-1 Win in Ontario
Jan 11, 2017Boxscore
Photos
Postgame Video
Shots:
Stars - 22
Reign - 22
Ranford, Smith Tally Multi-Point Nights for Texas
ONTARIO, Calif. -- Matej Stranksy buried the game-winner early in period three and the Texas Stars defense held up the rest of the way to pull out a 3-1 road win over the first-place Ontario Reign on Wednesday night in front of 7,602 fans in attendance at Citizens Business Bank Arena.
It was the Stars’ first road win over Ontario in franchise history. Maxime Lagace stopped 21 of 22 shots in net to earn his 11th win of the season for Texas (17-13-1-2). Brendan Ranford (goal, assist) and Gemel Smith (two assists) each tallied multi-point games for the Stars. With the win, Texas finished their season series taking three of four games against the Reign (17-7-6-0).
Texas continues its four-game road trip on Friday when they visit the Tucson Roadrunners at 8:05 p.m. CST.
Stransky’s game-winner came 2:22 into the third off a long offensive cycle with Ranford and Smith. Smith slipped a centering feed from behind the net to set up Stransky in front for his team-leading 12th of the season. From there, Lagace turned aside the eight shots he faced in the final period to protect the Texas lead.
Ontario’s Adrian Kempe opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 7:48 of the first for his eighth of the season. With just over five minutes to play in period two, Smith generated a rebound chance that Ranford stuffed home for his sixth of year to knot things back up at 1-1.
Ontario’s final push with the extra-attacker was negated when Kempe took a holding penalty with 95 seconds to play. Remi Elie added an empty-net goal for the Stars in the closing seconds to seal the win.
Both teams tallied a power play goal as Texas went 1-for-3 and Ontario finished 1-for-5.
The loss was just the fourth for Ontario in their last 15 games.
Weekday home games (Monday-Thursday) are H-E-B night with the Texas Stars where fans can donate a non-perishable item at the box office and save five dollars on their ticket purchase. Every Saturday is a Texas Lottery Lucky Row Night where the first Stars player to score wins free scratch-off tickets for a lucky row of seats at H-E-B Center. Fans can also enjoy Coke Zero Family Four-Packs every Saturday with four tickets, four hot dogs and four soft drinks starting at just $16 per person.
The Texas Stars are the primary development affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, and are currently playing their eighth season at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Full season, 24-game, 12-game and six-game ticket packages for the 2016-17 campaign are on sale now. For more information, call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit TexasStars.com.
| Three Stars: 1. Ranford (TEX) 2. Smith (TEX) 3. Kempe (ONT) |
Goaltenders: W - Lagace L - Campbell |
Photo Credit: Jessica Harsen/Ontario Reign