The Rampage began the 2009-10 season in the same fashion as they ended 2008-09, by defending home ice. San Antonio defeated the Texas Stars 3-2 on Friday evening in front of an energetic crowd of 7,804 at the AT&T Center. The contest was the first in the franchise history of the Dallas Stars’ AHL affiliate, based in suburban Austin.
The Rampage dictated play from the outset, utilizing both speed and tenacious forechecking to pressure the Stars deep in their zone and capitalize on Texas turnovers.
Early in the first period, the San Antonio line of Kyle Turris, Viktor Tikhonov and Jeff Hoggan cycled the puck to perfection below the Texas goal line, thus opening up passing lanes for a Rampage attack. Eventually, as the Texas defense began to stray away from the front of their net in order to pressure the puck, Turris, holding the puck in the left corner, drew the Stars defense far enough away from the net to send a sharp pass across the crease where Hoggan was waiting to one-time the puck past Stars netminder Brent Krahn. Hoggan’s goal at the 2:34 mark in the first energized a home crowd that had been waiting nearly six months for hockey to return to the Alamo City.
At the other end, Rampage goalie Al Montoya made some key saves, including a shot off his facemask that caused his helmet to fall off. However, Texas would even the score with under a minute remaining in the first period on a power-play goal by defenseman Maxime Fortunus.
The second period proved to be a battle of special teams as both Texas and San Antonio were whistled for a combined seven penalties over the course of 20 minutes. However, the Rampage were able to capitalize on a rare even strength opportunity midway through the second as San Antonio left wing Matt Beleskey redirected a rebound off a Sean Zimmerman shot to an open linemate, Chad Kolarik, who beat Krahn low inside the far post to provide the Rampage with a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
Both teams emerged from the dressing room in the final stanza with defensive mentalities and consequently the score remained unchanged until the halfway mark of the period when Ivan Vishnevskiy evened the game at two goals apiece. Krahn and Stars defenseman Andrew Hutchinson received assists on the tally.
In the end, destiny was on the side of a Rampage team that entered the contest with a 3-1 record when opening the season at home. After a flurry of shots peppered Krahn, center Joel Perrault found the puck on his stick and fired a spin-around shot to beat Krahn low to the stick side at the 14:50 mark of the third.
A few minutes later, a goal by Rampage center Kevin Porter was disallowed, but Montoya was able to preserve the lead and allow San Antonio to earn its first victory of the 2009-10 campaign.
The two clubs will return to action tomorrow night in a 7 p.m. matchup at Cedar Park Center before the Rampage hit the road for five consecutive games away from the AT&T Center.
