Corpus Christi, Texas – In a bounce back situation, the Corpus Christi IceRays leaned on their captain.
And Anthony Cafarelli saved his best for last.
Cafarelli hit the back of the net at 19:08 of the third period to lift the IceRays to a 3-2 victory over the Oklahoma Warriors Saturday night in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Corpus Christi earned its second-straight weekend split by winning on the road against the Warriors for the first time.
Cafarelli, Mathieu Bourgault and Stepan Kuznetsov scored for the IceRays who improved to 7-11-1, 1 SOL for 16 points.
Riley Brueck and Dominic Elliott scored for Oklahoma, which fell to 11-6-3, 1 SOL for 26 points.
“The turning point of the game for me was when Oklahoma laid a big hit on us and we didn’t even have the puck, and then our acquisition Griffin Zaske skated right up and challenged them and basically sent a message like we’re not going to take and we’re going to stick together as a group now,” IceRays head coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “We haven’t had that pushback. We’ve had some, but not like that. He’s a great defender, but for him to come in and step up for his teammates and have his teammates back, that was nice.”
While the name of the game is outscoring your opponent, good goaltending is vital.
And Bryant Marks was on the mark.
Marks saw 42 shots and made 40 saves to improve to 4-4 on the season.
“Hats off to Marks,” Cloutier said. “He’s been sitting there for a while as we’ve been going with Vilgot Holm, and Marks had a good night for us. It was nice.”
Oklahoma jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Brueck’s fourth goal of the season at 8:53.
But Corpus Christi bounced back on Bourgault’s third goal of the season off assists from Will Reardon and Andrew Hayek at 13:39 to knot the game up at 1-1.
It was Bourgault’s first goal since scoring in the team’s home opener against El Paso on September 22, a span of 15 games.
“It feels really good,” Bourgault said. “I got the monkey off my back and now it carries over for the next games, but now, It feels incredible. Especially after getting a win.”
Kuznetsov scored his seventh goal of the year on assists from Billy Biedermann and Cafarelli, his eighth of the season, at 17:21 and the IceRays led 2-1 after one period.
Elliott tied the game at 2-2 at 7:26 of the second period with his second goal of the year.
And the game remained tied until the final minute when Cafarelli netted his 11th of the season on assists from Connor Brust and Bourgault, his 14th of the year.
“We missed a few breakaways so it was huge,” Cloutier said of Cafarelli’s goal.
“He drove the net, used his speed and took the puck to the net. He got rewarded for his hard work, so that was nice to see.”
Cafarelli’s goal put in exclamation point on a team effort by the IceRays.
“We all got together before the game and we talked about what we wanted to do and what we wanted to accomplish as a group after last night’s game,” Bourgault said. “I think we did a really good job. After the first goal we all came together on the bench and we stayed focused on the job, so now it definitely feels good, and getting points against those guys is always huge.”
The IceRays will play three games in four nights on the road beginning Wednesday night when they take on the Lone Star Brahmas at 7 p.m. CST at the NYTEX Sports Centre.
“We expect it to be a really intense game on Wednesday,” Cloutier said. We need to get on a roll here. We must go into Lone Star and play the same way we did tonight.”
Following Thanksgiving Day, the IceRays will play a pair against the Colorado Grit Friday night at 8:15 CST and Saturday afternoon at 4:45 CST.
You can watch all three games on NAHLTV.com and can also catch them on Brewster Street Radio.
For more info on the IceRays visit goicerays.com.
