Corpus Christi, Texas – For 53 minutes, the Corpus Christi IceRays were right in the thick of the battle on the road against a very tough opponent.
For other portions of the contest, the stars just didn’t align.
After the IceRays got the equalizer in the third period, the New Mexico Ice Wolves countered with three unanswered goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the IceRays Friday night at Outpost Ice Arenas in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Stepan Kuznetsov tallied his fourth goal of the season at 6:26 of the third period off assists by Ryan Hintz and Billy Biedermann and the IceRays seemed to have the momentum to pull out a road victory.
But Ryan Johnson ignited a spurt of three goals in 4 minutes and 27 seconds at 12:45 to pull away.
Olivier Lamothe scored unassisted at 15:19 and Ryan Seelinger capped off the scoring unassisted at 17:12.
“We tied the game at 2-2 and for 53 minutes the game’s even,” IceRays head coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “They shoot from everywhere, so a lot of outside shots and we were pressing for that third goal and they made big saves and we made some mistakes and basically handed them the game.”
Bryce Johnson and Graham Harris had the other two goals for New Mexico (6-3-2, 1SOL, 15 points for fifth place in the NAHL South Division.
Anthony Cafarelli collected the other goal for the IceRays 4-7-1, 1SOL for 10 points and in ninth place in the South Division after Odessa’s shootout win over El Paso.
Cafarelli got the IceRays on the board with his seventh goal of the season, unassisted at 16:22 of the first period.
New Mexico came right back on a goal by Johnson 21 seconds later at 16:43.
Harris then scored a power-play goal at 17:56 and New Mexico led 2-1 after one period.
Neither team scored in the second period before the IceRays tied the game.
“You’re playing in a 2-2 game, and you have a chance to get big points on the road again, yeah I was disappointed,” Cloutier said. “The positive thing is that we get back out there tomorrow, and we want to split or better on the road, so now we’ve got a chance to do that tomorrow.”
Corpus Christi will conclude its four-game road swing tonight against New Mexico at 7:30 CDT.
“We’ve got to stay positive with our group and keep plugging away and we need a win tomorrow night,” Cloutier said.
The IceRays will return home for four straight games beginning with two against the Lone Star Brahmas, Friday, October 27 and Saturday, November 28 at 7:05 at the American Bank Center
You can watch Saturday’s game on NAHLTV.com and can also catch it on Brewster Street Radio.
For more info on the IceRays visit goicerays.com.
