Texas Stars Fall to San Diego to Close California Trip

(Credit: Vince Rappleyea/San Diego Gulls)

San Diego and Texas notched five third-period goals between them and the Stars came out on the short end of the affair, dropping to 2-2-1 on the season.

Here's the release:

The Texas Stars scored three goals in the opening 10 minutes of the third to take the lead, but the San Diego Gulls answered back with two goals 24 seconds a part in a 5-4 finish on Saturday night at Valley View Casino Center.

Cole Ully, Remi Elie and Brandon DeFazio each scored for the Stars (2-2-1-0) in the third to take one-goal edge, but Antoine Laganiere and Stu Bickel struck the quick goals for the Gulls to pull out the win. Phil Desrosiers stopped 33 shots in his first start of the season. Dustin Tokarski was 25 of 29 in net for San Diego (2-1-0-0).

The Stars return home on Tuesday to host the rival San Antonio Rampage at 7:30 p.m. CST at H-E-B Center.

The goal-scoring frenzy wasn’t limited to just the third. San Diego scored a pair of goals in the final minutes of period two to snap open a tie game. Brandon Montour drilled a shot from the top of the right circle to give the Gulls their first lead of the night with 3:05 to play. Nick Tarnasky added his first of the season just over a minute later to make it a 3-1 score.

Both teams traded goals in period one to open up the scoring. Matt Mangene put Texas on the board with his first of the season at 7:21 from the right circle. Kevin Roy responded with his first career AHL goal four minutes later to tie things for the Gulls.

Overall, the game saw four lead changes between the two teams as they are slated for three more meetings during the regular season.

The Stars power play stayed hot going 2-for-4 in the game, giving Texas six power play goals over their first five games of the season. San Diego finished 1-for-5 on the man-advantage.

The Gull outshot the Stars 38-29 in the contest.

Tonight's lines:
Ranford-Morin-Stransky
Ully-Dowling-DeFazio
Elie-McMurtry-Gurianov
Troock-Fyten-Van Brabant

Bodnarchuk-Mangene
Backman-Honka
Ebert-Stevenson

Desrosiers

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Smith (call up)
Bystrom, Karjalainen (scratch)

Tonight's attendance was 8,391.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at San Diego - October 22 2016