As the fans of the San Antonio Rampage know all too well, the silver and black have not done well in Austin. San Antonio owned a 7-14 record on the road against the Texas Stars all-time and all signs pointed to a loss. All that changed on Friday night.
The Rampage (11-6-0-0) scored early and often as they crushed the Stars (6-5-4-0) 7-1 in front of 5,754 inside the Cedar Park Center on Friday evening.
San Antonio lit the lamp early when Connor Brickley put home a rebound off a shot by Steven Kampfer’s shot past Texas goaltender Jack Campbell to give the Rampage a 1-0 lead just 1:18 into the game.
The silver and black took a commanding lead with three goals in the second period. Bobby Butler put San Antonio up 2-0 with his team-leading ninth goal of the season when he sent a shot past Campbell’s shoulder just 29 seconds into the middle frame. Brickley gave San Antonio a three goal lead with a power play tally, it was his first multi-goal game of his pro career. Texas finally got on the board when Justin Dowling banged home a lose puck past Rampage goaltender Dan Ellis to make it 3-1.
Alex Petrovic gave the Rampage their three-goal lead back when he scored on a 3-on-2 break with a shot from the slot that found its way past Campbell to put the silver and black up 4-1 going into the third period.
The Rampage continued their scoring streak in the third period, but not before a change in net for the Stars. Maxime Legace took Campbell’s place in between the pipes to begin the final frame. Garrett Wilson tallied a power play goal to put San Antonio up 5-1 and Brett Olson added a goal less than a minute later. Wilson finished the scoring as he put the puck past Legace to finalize the 7-1 win for San Antonio.
The seven goals from the Rampage s the most scored against Texas in the five-year history of the meetings.
Ellis made 25 saves on 26 shots he faced. Campbell stopped 28 of 34 shots in 43 minutes, while Legace made 9 of 10 saves in relief. The Stars finished 0-for-4 on the power play, while San Antonio was 3-for-8.
The Rampage will return home to complete the home-and-home series with the Texas Stars at 4:30 p.m. at the AT&T Center.
