HIDALGO, TX – Kyle Froese score another power-play goal early in the game but that was answered by an early third period goal from Kevin Antipov, who also tallied in the shootout as the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees took a 2-1 decision over the Corpus Christi IceRays on Friday night inside State Farm Arena. With the shootout loss, the IceRays took three of a possible four points from the Killer Bees in the two game series.
The first power-play of the game only lasted a total of five seconds as Kyle Froese took the Maurin Bouvet faceoff win and fired it through a screen over the right shoulder of Rio Grande Valley netminder Nick Schmit for his fourth goal on the year and second power-play strike in as many games for a 1-0 lead at 3:02 of the opening period.
In the second period the IceRays depended on Ben Myers to keep the 1-0 lead. Myers denied all 12 shots that he faced as the Killer Bees peppered the net at times during the frame.
The Killer Bees responded early on in the third period of play. Just 51 seconds into the frame, Kevin Antipov picked up the loose puck inside the left wing circle at the hash marks and wired a wrist shot by goaltender Ben Myers to tie it up 1-1. The assists went to Connor Pelkey and Dylan Abood.
After nothing was decided they went to overtime. In the extra time, Ben Myers made two critical saves to keep the game from ending and forced a shootout. In the shootout, the only scoring came from Rio Grande Valley as Kevin Antipov scored in the first round of the shootout while Aleksi Luhtalampi notched the game winner in round four for the extra point and the 2-1 win.
Ben Myers put aside 35 of 36 shots in the loss.
The IceRays return home next Friday and Saturday night as they host the Fairbanks IceDogs. Puck drops at 7:05PM, coverage begins at 6:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on sportsjuice.com, ustream.com, and fasthockey.com. Click LISTEN LIVE on the IceRays website for more information!
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