Ice Rays beat Killer Bees on Wednesday, 3-1
Rio Grande Valley 1 @ Corpus Christi 3 - The Corpus Christi IceRays came away from a physical battle against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees with a 3-1 victory over their South Division rivals. This marks three-straight wins for the IceRays, tying their longest consecutive victory streak set at the beginning of October.
Eleven penalties were called in the first period, just over half of which awarded to the IceRays. Defenseman Travis Howe dropped the gloves for the second-straight game, this time against forward Adam Morrison, in an even bout. Not too long after, forward Ryan Cusin tucked in a rebound chance coming from forwards Wes Michaud and Tanner Lomsnes to give the IceRays the lead, 1-0. Toward the end of the period, forward Connor Kelly was awarded a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. After overpowering the Killer Bees for much of the period, the IceRays only led 16-10 in shots into the first intermission.
The IceRays would increase their lead in the early stages of the second period. Forward Nic LaBurn worked to free the puck along the left wall and found forward Griff Jeszka wide open in the slot, who sniped the shot home to extend the lead, 2-0. The goal is Jeszka’s first of the season and his first point with the IceRays in his fifth game. The Killer Bees would answer on the power play at 11:03, capitalizing on a call for head contact against defenseman Anthony Cortese. Defenseman Evan Bell took a slap shot from the right point went off the skate of forward Anthony Croston to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
After a tightly-fought third period, the IceRays knocked in one more goal from a backhand of Lomsnes into an empty net to seal the win, 3-1. The IceRays finished the game leading in shots 33-27. IceRays goaltender Andrew Lindgren (8-3-2) earned the win, saving 26 of 27 shots, while Killer Bees netminder Nick Schmidt (3-4-1) took the loss, turning aside 30 of 32 shots.
