Luca’s Mann early first period goal and Pete Sterling’s outstanding performance in his playoff debut fell just short of getting the Grit their first-ever postseason win on Friday night in Corpus Christi. Colorado fell in a 2-1 thriller against the #3 seed IceRays to fall behind 1-0 in the best-of-3 series.
The Grit jumped on top early, executing a breakout play to perfection to beat Corpus Christi netminder Benji Motew. Colorado broke into the offensive zone and Luke Helgeson drew two defenders before slipping a rinkwide pass to winger Lucas Mann. Mann shifted to the backhand and slipped the puck past Motew to give the Grit an early lead, 1-0, just 4:30 minutes into the first period. Colorado had a pair of power-play opportunities in the opening twenty minutes, but were unable to crack Motew a second time and took the one-goal lead into the first intermission.
Colorado started the second period in search of an insurance tally, but both Motew and Sterling held strong for their respective sides in net. Sterling, who finished with 24 saves, stonewalled a Billy Biedermann one-timer from the low slot with a shoulder save midway through the frame to keep the Grit ahead by the lone goal headed into the second intermission.
The IceRays found their tying tally in the opening minute of the third period; Cooper Conway punched a shot to the high blocker side past Sterling to finish off a 2-on-1 and tie the game 1-1 just 53 seconds into the third period to finally activate the crowd of 1,532. The teams buckled down defensively and Corpus Christi found another late 2-on-1 opportunity to take the lead. Pierson Sobush sauced a pass to linemate Troy Pelton, who tipped the puck past a sliding Sterling to give the IceRays their first lead, 2-1, with 5:49 left in regulation. The Grit pulled the netminder for the extra attacker in the final two minutes, but couldn’t find a way to beat Motew and repeat the heroics of last Sunday.
The Grit and IceRays face off in Game 2 of the South Division Play-In Series on Saturday night with the Grit needing to win to avoid elimination. Puck drop is at 7:35 PM CDT/6:35 PM MDT.
