Amarillo, TX (Feb 25, 2023) – The Corpus Christi IceRays fell to the Amarillo Wranglers 7-1 at the Budweiser Bullpen on Saturday, February 25th, 2023.
Game Action
The trend of giving up early first period goals unfortunately continued tonight as the Wranglers jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a rebound goal from Ronan Walsh just 1:21 into the first. Amarillo forward Jack McDonald finished a pretty passing play from the Ivey brothers at 7:22 to give the Wranglers a 2-0 lead. The IceRays generated a few chances about halfway through the first and had a few power play opportunities but were unable to capitalize.
Trouble continued later in the period for the IceRays as Wranglers forward Roman Zap snuck one through the pads of Lukas Malant on the power play to make it a 3-0 game, and then Connor McNaughton beat Malant on a long-range wrister through traffic at 18:52 to put Amarillo up 4-0.
The IceRays came out much stronger to start the second period, controlling the pace and matching the Wranglers in the physicality department as well. Amarillo netminder Carter Clafton made a number of great stops, however, to keep the IceRays off the board. The momentum the IceRays had generated to start the period was extinguished as they would go on to spend the majority of the period on the penalty kill. Leo Korus was assessed a major penalty for boarding which sent him to the locker room for the rest of the night, and on the ensuing power play Wranglers defenseman Pierce Patterson tallied for his second goal of the weekend series to put Amarillo up 5-0 at the 14:51 mark.
Connor McNaughton scored for the Wranglers at the 1:10 mark of the third to put the Wranglers up 6-0. Connor Brust was able to get the IceRays on the board at 13:33 to spoil the shutout for Carter Clafton which came on the power play, the IceRays first goal on the man advantage in eight games. The Wranglers would strike once more as it was Rihards Simanovics who buried his team leading 13th goal of the year on the power play to make it 7-1 at 15:55 of the third.
It was a busy night in the box for the IceRays, accruing 37 total penalty minutes. Lukas Malant stopped 43 of the 50 total shots he faced from the Wranglers.
IceRays Next Game
The IceRays next game is Friday, March 3rd against the Shreveport Mudbugs at the American Bank Center. Puck drop is at 7:05 PM CST.
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