Stars dust Rampage for historical first home win

CEDAR PARK, Texas — On October 3, 2009 the AHL’s newest team, the Texas Stars, recorded their historical first win in their inaugural regular season home game. The Stars squeezed by the San Antonio Rampage 3-2 in overtime in front of more than 6,200 ecstatic fans. The ceremonial puck was dropped by AHL Commissioner Dave Andrews who attended both games between Texas and San Antonio. “The best thing about having a third Texas team is that the fans can travel just up the road to more games to watch these future NHL players,” Andrews said in an interview with Star’s Director of Media Relations, Josh Fisher.  “86% of all NHL players today played in the AHL.” After taking a 2-1 lead with a pretty four on four Perttu Lindgren goal late in the first period, the Star’s defense and goaltender Matt Climie held the Rampage in check until late in the third period when Rampage forward Kevin Porter tied the game. Lindgren’s goal came just seconds after San Antonio tied the game 1-1 and resulted from a Rampage turnover in the neutral zone. The defenseman then lost an edge and Lindgren skated in on Montoya and roofed the puck behind his right shoulder. Texas missed a golden opportunity to increase their lead early in the third period when San Antonio was short two men for nearly 90 seconds. The Stars were 1-8 on the power play. Texas opened the scoring on their only power play goal by Ivan Vishnevskiy with one second remaining on the man advantage. Vishnevskiy streaked down the middle of the ice and beat Montoya from the low slot for the team’s first ever home goal. San Antonio tied the game 1-1 when Shaun Heshka got the puck past Climie through a screen late in the third. It appeared that neither team would score in the overtime period. But with just 15 seconds remaining, Travis Morin, Brad Lukowich and Greg Rallo weaved through center ice into the offensive zone and Rallo tipped a centering pass over the shoulder of Montoya, sending the crowd into a frenzie. Lukowich was assigned by the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks just before the game. He has played in 640 NHL games with San Jose, Dallas, Tampa Bay, New Jersey and the New York Islanders.

Climie reflected on the Rampage goal that tied the game late in the third period. “You never want that to happen,” climie said. “But you have to trust your teammates and play as hard as you can and hope they can come back.” The Laduc, Alberta native stopped 34 shots and was the team’s first number one star on a night of firsts and noted how satisfying it was to win their first home game. “This was a great win,” Climie said. “It was good to win in this new building in front of so many loud fans. It was a very emotional night.” Contact the writer at: Mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com