Thomas scores twice as Rampage dump Stars

Link to Saturday’s boxscores

Bill Thomas’s second goal of the night snapped a 1-1 tie in the second period and sent San Antonio to a 7-1 win over Iowa at the AT&T Center on Saturday night.

The Rampage scored six unanswered goals over the game’s final 32 minutes to close out the victory.

Matt Murley, Chris Durno and David Spina each had a goal and an assist for San Antonio, and Brendan Bell and Enver Lisin added two assists apiece. Joel Perrault and Cam Paddock also scored for the Rampage.

Josh Tordjman made 24 saves in the win.

Junior Lessard had the only goal for the Stars, who were 5-0-0-0 in San Antonio last season.


GRAND RAPIDS 3, LAKE ERIE 2
It was a festive atmosphere at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, but Ryan Oulahen spoiled the party with 2:55 left in regulation, scoring the decisive goal in Grand Rapids’ 3-2 win over Lake Erie in the Monsters’ inaugural opener.

A crowd of 15,132 fans took in the contest at the “Q”.

Oulahen and Mark Cullen had a goal and an assist each for the Griffins and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves in the victory. Jonathan Ericsson also scored for Grand Rapids.

Matt Hussey and Kyle Cumiskey scored for Lake Erie. Jose Theodore, making a rehab start following offseason knee surgery, made 21 saves.


QUAD CITY 5, ROCKFORD 1
Eric Nystrom and rookie Dan Ryder each had a goal and an assist and Matt Keetley made 26 saves in his pro debut as Quad City defeated Rockford, 5-1, in the first-ever game for both clubs.

Dustin Boyd, Tomi Maki and Kris Chucko also scored for the Flames, who scored twice in each of the first two periods to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Grant Stevenson and Tim Hambly added two assists each for Quad City.

Attendance was 7,548 at the I Wireless Center in Moline, Ill.

Keetley, a 2005 draft pick by the parent Calgary Flames, stopped 10 shots in the first period, five in the second and 13 in the third.


TORONTO 4, ROCHESTER 1
Jeremy Williams and Alex Foster scored 2:22 apart early in the second period to send Toronto to a 4-1 win over Rochester at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday.

Third-year pro Adam Taylor gave the Americans a 1-0 lead with the first point of his AHL career, but Colin Murphy converted on a 2-on-1 rush to tie things up late in the first period.

Williams buried a rebound of a Darryl Boyce shot 3:21 into the second period to give the Marlies the lead, and Foster scored shorthanded at 5:43.

Derrick Walser capped the scoring for Toronto.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn the win in his Marlies debut. Toronto native Adam Dennis made 32 saves for the Amerks.


PORTLAND 4, LOWELL 1
Stephen Dixon scored twice during Portland’s four-goal third period as the Pirates rallied past Lowell, 4-1, at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Mike Hoffman and Andrew Ebbett also scored for Portland, which outshot the Devils 18-3 in the final frame and 40-18 for the game.

J.P. Levasseur made 17 saves to earn the win in his professional debut.

Ivan Khomutov picked up the only goal for Lowell.


WORCESTER 4, SPRINGFIELD 2
Lukas Kaspar, Graham Mink and Riley Armstrong each scored a goal and recorded a plus-2 rating as Worcester doubled up Springfield, 4-2, in both teams’ season opener at the MassMutual Center.

Mike Iggulden added two assists and Nate Raduns scored in his pro debut for the Sharks, while Thomas Greiss turned aside 27 shots.

Jean-Francois Jacques, who opened the season in the NHL with Edmonton, registered a goal and an assist for the Falcons.

Devan Dubnyk stopped 16 of 17 shots in relief of Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, who allowed two goals on four shots.


BRIDGEPORT 3, HARTFORD 2
Bridgeport got 28 saves from Joey MacDonald and a go-ahead goal from Ben Walter and held on for a 3-2 win in Hartford on Saturday night.

Walter, who helped eliminate the Wolf Pack from the first round of last year’s playoffs with his Game 7 hat trick for Providence, broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal late in the first period.

Tim Jackman had a goal and an assist and Frans Nielsen also scored for the Sound Tigers. Jordan Owens and Corey Potter had the Hartford goals.

Bridgeport won the season series opener between the clubs last season as well, but the Pack went on to take the next nine meetings.

Attendance at the Hartford Civic Center was 9,769.


WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, SYRACUSE 2
Tyler Kennedy followed up his three-point performance on Wednesday with a pair of goals to lead Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 3-2 win over visiting Syracuse on Saturday night.

Kennedy scored twice in the second period to put the Penguins in front 3-0, and Ty Conklin made 14 of his 31 saves in the third to hold off the Crunch.

Jeff Taffe also scored for the Pens, his second goal in as many games.

Geoff Platt and Derek MacKenzie scored for Syracuse.


ALBANY 3, BINGHAMTON 1
Dave Gove scored the winning goal with 12:01 left in regulation as Albany battled past Binghamton, 3-1, in a steamy Broome County Arena on Saturday night.

Jerome Samson scored his first professional goal for the River Rats and Mike Angelidis capped the scoring with an empty-netter in the final minute.

Ilja Zubov had the only goal for the Senators.

Michael Leighton earned first-star honors with 34 saves on 35 shots in the Albany net. Jeff Glass stopped 26 saves in defeat.


PROVIDENCE 2, MANCHESTER 1
Matt Hendricks scored two goals as Providence kicked off its season-opening road trip with a 2-1 win in Manchester.

The Bruins are playing their first 10 games of 2007-08 on the road while the Dunkin’ Donuts Center completes its renovation project.

Hendricks struck first 1:55 into the game, when his shot from the right boards hit Monarchs netminder Dan Cloutier and trickled in. Gabe Gauthier answered for Manchester on a power play later in the first period, but the B’s retook the lead for good on Hendricks’ marker at 11:13 of the second.

Tuukka Rask, a first-round draft pick in 2005, stopped 27 of 28 shots to earn the win in his pro debut. Cloutier, making his first appearance in the AHL since 1998, had 28 saves for the Monarchs.


PEORIA 4, MILWAUKEE 2
Jeff Woywitka scored 21 seconds into the game and Peoria never looked back, taking a 4-2 decision from Milwaukee at Carver Arena.

Petr Cajanek, Martin Kariya and Jean-Guy Trudel all scored for the Rivermen as well, and rookie Chris Porter began his pro career with two assists.

Jason Bacashihua shut down the Admirals until Mike Santorelli and Josh Langfeld scored midway through the third period. Bacashihua finished with 25 saves.


CHICAGO 4, HOUSTON 2
Jesse Schultz and Steve Martins recorded a goal and two assists each as Chicago doubled up Houston, 4-2, at the Toyota Center.

Defenseman Brian Fahey added a goal and an assist and Jason Krog also scored for the Wolves, who owned the AHL’s top-ranked offense in 2006-07. Darren Haydar, the most valuable player in the league last season, picked up an assist.

Ondrej Pavelec, a second-round draft choice by Atlanta in 2005, turned aside 21 shots for the win in his first pro game.

Erik Reitz led the Aeros with a goal and an assist.