CEDAR PARK, Texas – Despite 48 shots on net and a furious comeback effort in the third period, the Texas Stars came up short in a 4-3 loss to Calvin Pickard and the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday night in front of 6,286 fans at Cedar Park Center.
Trailing 4-1 in the third, the Stars (7-3-0-1) tallied a pair of goals to close the gap to one. With the extra attacker on the ice in the final minute, Texas hit the crossbar and Brendan Ranford was denied on the doorstep by Pickard to lift the Rampage (6-0-3-0) in the end. Texas mounted a 20-5 shot advantage in the third in an effort to force overtime, and Pickard finished with 45 saves in the win for San Antonio.
The two teams will face off again on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Cedar Park Center.
After a scoreless opening frame, the Stars struck first 2:51 into the second period when Stephen Johns uncorked a high shot that ricocheted off the boards and allowed Gemel Smith to stuff home his third of the season. San Antonio rallied with a pair of goals from Mikko Rantanen at 3:28 and 7:57 to take a 2-1 lead, and Joey Hishon tacked on a power play goal late in the frame for the Rampage after an Esa Lindell slashing minor to grab a 3-1 advantage at the end of two.
At 3:27 of the third, Trevor Cheek pushed San Antonio to a 4-1 lead off a helper from Rantanen, who added his fourth point of the night on the goal. Jason Dickinson started the comeback push for Texas with his third goal of the season by stickhandling through the slot during a stretch of 4-on-4 hockey, and Justin Dowling made it a 4-3 deficit at 14:34 on a power play goal to finalize the scoring.
Texas finished 1-for-5 on the power play. The Rampage went 1-for-4.
Lagace stopped 17 of 21 shots in the loss for the Stars. Jack Campbell dressed for his first game of the season as the backup after being reassigned from the NHL’s Dallas Stars on Saturday.
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