CEDAR PARK, Texas (April 12, 2017) – A third-period rally from the San Antonio Rampage (26-41-5-2) fell short as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Texas Stars (33-36-1-4) on Wednesday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
Grimaldi’s first-period goal made him the fifth skater in franchise history to ever record 30 goals in a single season. This feat hasn’t been accomplished since Brett MacLean registered 30 goals in the 2009-10 campaign. Forward Garry Nunn recorded an assist in his 450th professional game.
San Antonio opened the scoring early in the first frame when Grimaldi scored his 30th goal of the season at the 3:57 mark. Stars netminder Justin Peters made the save on Grimaldi’s initial shot, but the puck ricocheted off a Texas skate and into the back of the net. Texas tied the game at one with six seconds remaining in the period thanks to a Gemel Smith deflection that snuck behind Rampage goaltender Joe Cannata.
The scoring continued in the middle frame as Texas took the lead with a power-play goal from Matt Mangene at 11:52. San Antonio struck back with a power-play goal of its own at 15:27 when Chris Bigras buried the puck upstairs on Peters. The Stars wasted no time regaining the lead as Cole Ully tipped in a centering pass from Mark McNeil at the 16:12 mark. Texas took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
Texas collected its fourth goal of the evening in the opening minutes of the third period, when Denis Gurianov registered his 11th of the season at 5:09. Despite the Stars 4-2 lead, San Antonio responded quickly with a tally from Reid Petryk at 6:13, extending his goal streak to four games. The Rampage pulled Cannata with two minutes left in regulation en favor of an extra attacker, but failed to land the game-tying goal.
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