The battle between the league’s regular-season best and the defending Calder Cup champion has been one-sided so far.
The Texas Stars got two goals each from Brendan Ranford and Justin Dowling backed by a 30-save effort from Cristopher Nilstorp and rolled to a 4-0 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Cedar Park Center on Saturday night.
The Stars own a 2-0 series lead over the Griffins as the teams’ Western Conference semifinal series shifts to Michigan for Game 3 on Tuesday.
Texas, now 23-2-0-3 in its last 28 games, improved to 5-0 this postseason and has outscored Grand Rapids 9-2 in the series so far.
Curtis McKenzie and Travis Morin tallied two assists each and Nilstorp (3-0) registered his second career playoff shutout.
Petr Mrazek (3-3) made 33 saves for Grand Rapids in the loss.
Western Conference Semifinals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
1-Texas Stars vs. 4-Grand Rapids Griffins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Thu., May 8 – TEXAS 5, Grand Rapids 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – TEXAS 4, Grand Rapids 0
Game 3 – Tue., May 13 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 14 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 16 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 18 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:00
*Game 7 – Mon., May 19 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:30
*if necessary… All times Eastern
