AMARILLO, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays scored three goals in the third period to mount a comeback, however the Amarillo Bulls picked up four goals in the first and added two more in the final 40 minutes of play en route to a 6-3 victory inside the Amarillo Civic Center to even the series up at one game apiece.
Amarillo’s first goal came at 6:52 of the first period as Brady Ferguson scooped up a rebound after a Ben Myers save and tapped in his first of the playoffs with assists from Dan McNamara and Clint Carlisle and the Bulls led 1-0.
Ferguson struck again 21 seconds later as he back-handed a shot by Myers for his second of the night and second of the playoffs as Amarillo quickly moved out to a 2-0 lead.
After the IceRays took a penalty, Amarillo converted on the power-play with 4:51 left to go in the as Hampus Gustafsson wristed a shot over the shoulder of Myers with assists credited to Geoff Fortman and John Rey and the Bulls moved out to a 3-0 advantage.
In the second period a fluke goal gave the Bulls a 4-0 lead while on the power-play. Gage Christianson fired a shot from the goal line to the left of Ben Myers that hit a body in front and found the back of the net. The assists were from Hampus Gustafsson and Geoff Fortman and the goal came at 7:05 of the second frame.
In the third period Corpus Christi started a comeback that began with a Perry D’Arrisso goal as he buried a rebound attempt to put the IceRays on the board just 3:22 into the third with the assists going to John Roisum and Brandon Smith.
Dan McNamara answered back for the Bulls with a wrister from the right wing circle beating Ben Myers over his left shoulder and Amarillo moved back out to a four goal lead at 5-1 with 15:08 left in the game.
The IceRays responded with two straight goals, both by AJ Jarosz. The first came even strength as Mike Economos dropped a pass back to Jarosz who wired a shot over Paul Berrafato at 8:19 of the third period and the Rays’ were back within three goals.
Jarosz picked up his second of the game on the power-play beating Berrafato off a great pass from Beau Walker who set Jarosz up for a tap-in goal. The other assist was credited to Wayland Williams and the Rays’ trailed 5-3 with 7:27 left in the game.
The Bulls tacked on a power-play goal late in regulation courtesy of TJ Sherman and picked up the win to even the series 1-1.
Ben Myers stopped 42 shots in the loss.
The series returns to Corpus Christi on Tuesday for Game 3 against Amarillo. Puck drops at 7:05PM, coverage begins at 6:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on sportsjuice.com, ustream.com, the TuneIn Rado APP, and fasthockey.com.
Stay current with the latest team news by visiting www.goicerays.com. In addition stay connected with the IceRays on Facebook (/corpuschristiicerays), Twitter (@goicerays), and the team’s Youtube channel ICERAYS TV (@goicerays)
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