Houser’s 44 Saves Stymie Stars 4-2

Jan 29, 2014

The Texas Stars out-shot the opponents 46-18, but were frustrated by goaltender Michael Houser and lost 4-2 to the San Antonio Rampage Wednesday night in front of 5,089 fans at Cedar Park Center.

After a surprisingly quite offensive start to the game, San Antonio defensemen Matt Gilroy ripped a slap-shot off a faceoff win by Ryan Martindale that snuck through the traffic in front and beat goaltender Josh Robinson at 14:57. The two teams combined for just 10 shots on goal in the opening period, with the Rampage holding a slim 6-4 advantage.

The shots changed dramatically in the second period as the Stars outshot San Antonio 19-3, but could not get anything past goalie Michael Houser.

Just moments after Colton Sceviour hit the post, the Rampage doubled their lead a mere 23 seconds into the third period. Jed Ortmeyer tipped a John Lee shot from the point over Robinson to double the visitors’ lead and quell the Stars’ momentum. Two minutes later Ortmeyer did it again, this time tipping in a Matt Gilroy shot for a power play goal, his second tally of the night for a 3-1 San Antonio lead. Texas responded a minute later with a power play goal to get on the scoreboard, when Travis Morin finished off a slick passing sequence from Chris Mueller and Colton Sceviour. It was Morin’s 26th goal of the season and his AHL-leading 62nd point of the year. Shortly after Dustin Jeffrey rang a shot off the crossbar, the Rampage regained their three-goal lead when Vincent Trocheck completed a give-and-go with John McFarland and beat Robinson with a hard wrist shot into the top right corner of the net. With time winding down, the Stars pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with four minutes left in regulation. The move succeed at 18:12 as Scott Glennie took a clever cross-crease pass from Brendan Ranford and deposited the puck into the open net to make it 4-2. Jamie Oleksiak also assisted on Texas’ second goal of the night. The Stars once again pulled Robinson, but could draw no closer and Houser nearly scored from his own zone, but his 200-foot shot went wide left of the vacated Texas net.

San Antonio goalie Michael Houser stopped 44-of-46 shots, recording his ninth win of the season and earning the game’s first star honors. Josh Robinson finished with 14 saves on 18 shots in the losing effort in goal for the Stars. Texas outshot the Rampage 46-18 and went 1-for-8 on the power-play. San Antonio was 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

Note: Tonight’s loss was Texas’ first regulation defeat at the hands of San Antonio since March 10, 2012, ending a 20-game point streak for the Stars against the Rampage (15-0-2-3).

The Texas Stars will host the Toronto Marlies on Saturday, February 1st at 7:00 p.m. at Cedar Park Center. Saturday’s game is Colton Sceviour Mini-Bobblehead night, while also being another Coke Zero Family Four Pack night and a Texas Lottery Lucky Row night. Pro-rated full and partial 2013-14 Texas Stars Season Tickets are on sale now. For more information on Texas Stars season tickets call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit www.TexasStarsHockey.com.