Griffs Score Four Unanswered as Texas is Toppled 4-2

(Photo Credit: Mark Newman/Grand Rapids Griffins)

Grand Rapids, MI - The Texas Stars, despite a hot start, were unable to overcome four consecutive goals nor a hot goalie in Sebastian Coosa as they fell to the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-2 in front of 8,217 at Van Andel Arena Friday night, splitting the two-game series.

Texas clearly outplayed the Griffs for most, if not all of the first period, outshooting Grand Rapids 18-8 in the process, but were unable to have anything to show for it until late in the period. Matthew Seminoff scored his first professional goal in highlight-reel fashion with 1:54 left in the opening period, a lead that they would take to the first intermission.

Texas added to their lead just 4:27 into the middle of the second period when Oskar Bäck found a wide open Frederik Karlström, who shoveled it past Cossa for what seemed, at that point, to be a commanding lead. 

Grand Rapids, despite being outplayed in most phases of the game, cut the Stars' lead in half when the first of a few fluky goals got past Matt Murray as Tyler Spezia clanked a shot off of Stars forward Scott Reedy's stick to make it 2-1 with 12:49 left in the middle stanza.

The Griffins got a pair of goals scored by Carter Mazur and Antti Tuomisto 1:06 apart at 17:44 and then 18:50 respectively to make it 3-2 Grand Rapids after a second period that saw the Griffins outshoot Texas 9-5, still giving the Stars a 23-17 edge after two.

The third period lacked much action as the Griffins outshot Texas 7-5 as neither team found paydirt until Jonatan Berggren tallied an empty-netter with eight seconds left to yield the final score of 4-2.

Between the pipes, Cossa made 26 saves on the 28 shots he saw while improving his record to 4-5-2 on the season. Murray took the unfortunate loss for the Stars, seeing his record drop to 8-4-2 despite turning away 20 of 23 shots and being the victim of some bad bounces.

Despite the loss, Texas still holds a commanding lead in the Central Division with their record at 14-6-2-1 (31 pts.). With their victory, Grand Rapids jumped up a spot into fourth as they saw their record improve to 9-12-2-1 (21 pts.)

Up next, the Stars have a quick turnaround as they face the Chicago Wolves Saturday night Allstate Arena in Chicago. Texas swept a pair from the Wolves last weekend in a pair of very testy games in Cedar Park, so get your popcorn ready. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:00 P.M.

Tonight's lines:

McKenzie-Bourque-Stankoven
Blumel-Back-Karlstrom*
Stranges-Damiani-Caamano
Whitecroft-Seminoff-Reedy

Pouliot-White*
Grushnikov-Petrovic
J. Murray-Karow

Murray

Injuries, scratches and notes,
McDonald (day-to-day), Bayreuther (out - ankle)
Kyrou, Berard (scratch)

Tonight's attendance was 8,217.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Grand Rapids - December 15 2023