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The Texas Stars earned the series split in Des Moines, Iowa last weekend against the Iowa Wild.
In Friday's contest, the Wild jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal from Ben Jones.
The second period was riddled with penalties and power play goals. At 1:34, Sammy Walker went to the box for hooking ans sent the Stars to the man-advantage. Off the faceoff, Kole Lind found Antonio Stranges high in the slot who blasted it past Jesper Wallstedt to tie the game at one. The Wild quickly answered back with a power play goal of their own from Luke Toporowski to give them the 2-1 lead. A few minutes later, the Wild struck again when Jones found Reese Johnson in front for the tic-tac-toe goal to extend their lead by two. In the final minutes of the second, the Stars were on the power play again and a blast from Lian Bichsel was redirected by Curtis McKenzie to bring Texas back within one.
In the third period, a Stars penalty sent the Wild back on the power play where Graeme Clarke added to their lead and made it 4-2 with a little over 17 minutes remaining. Texas made things interesting in the 16th minute of the frame when Cameron Hughes scored a short handed goal to cut the deficit to one with three and a half minutes to play. The Stars pulled Magnus Hellberg for the extra attacker and found themselves on the man-advantage, giving them a 6-on-4. While entering the zone, Stranges hit a bad spot of ice, fell and lost the puck to Jones who sent it to the empty net and the Wild led 5-3 with just over a minute left.
The Wild hung on to win 5-3 and take the first game of the weekend.
Saturday, it seemed as though the Wild had carried over momentum from Friday's game when Toporowski and Shore found their way back on the scoresheet. Iowa led 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.
In the second period, the Stars answered when Stranges tossed a cross-ice pass to Lind who hit the one-timer and beat Wallstedt to cut the deficit to one. Just 30 seconds later, Toporowski logged his second of the night after a generous bounce off the backwall found him in front where he beat Remi Poirier and gave the Wild the 3-1 lead. At 5:37, Adam Raska headed off for slashing and sent the Stars to the power play. A scrum in front of Wallstedt lead to Cameron Hughes cashing in on the man-advantage and bringing the Stars back within one. At 16:28, Hunter Haight went to the box for cross-checking and the Stars were back on the power play. Stranges with his skilled skating, dangled his way through defenders and beat Wallstedt below the blocker to tie it at three.
In the third, the Wild opened the frame on the power play after Bichsel was whistled for interference at the end of the second. Haight made the Stars pay with a one-timer of his own that beat Poirier five-hole to give them the 4-3 lead.
The Stars weren't going down without a fight, though. At 9:35, Lind scored his second of the game with a clapper from the blue line to tie the game at four with just over 10 minutes left in the period. Two minutes later, Hughes collected his second of the game when he deflected a shot from Christian Kyrou and gave the Stars their first lead of the weekend, 5-4. Just 17 seconds later, Emilio Pettersen joined in on the comeback effort when he cleaned up a rebound in front to make it 6-4 Texas. The fun didn't stop there, at 14:47 Kyle Capobianco walked into the right circle and fired a shot past the blocker of Wallstedt, giving the Stars the 7-4 lead with just under six minutes remaining. At 17:24, Johnson was whistled for holding and sent the Stars back to the man-advantage. Texas held considerable zone-time during their power play and at 19:00, Chase Wheatcroft found Matej Blumel in his beloved right circle for the one-timer that beat Wallstedt to make it 8-4.
The Stars pulled off their biggest comeback of the season thus far and earned the series split.
The Texas Stars wrap up their three-game road-trip tomorrow (11/19) in Rockford, Illinois.
The Stars are coming off a 8-4 win Saturday night in Iowa where 14 different players found the scoresheet. They are currently in third place of the Central Division with a record of 8-4-0-0.
The IceHogs are led by rookie forward, Frank Nazar, who has logged 13 points (5g, 8a) in 11 games. Colton Dach and Cole Guttman quickly follow behind Nazar and have nine and eight points, respectively. Rockford is currently 7th in the Central Division with a record of 4-8-0-0. They've lost 5 of their last 6 games.
PLAYER | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS |
Antonio Stranges | 4 | 9 | 13 |
Justin Hryckowian | 4 | 9 | 13 |
Kole Lind | 6 | 6 | 12 |
Matej Blumel | 4 | 7 | 11 |
Chase Wheatcroft | 3 | 8 | 11 |
Arttu Hyry | 4 | 6 | 10 |
TEXAS to DALLAS (AHL to NHL)
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DALLAS to TEXAS (NHL to AHL)
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TEXAS to IDAHO (AHL to ECHL)
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IDAHO to TEXAS (ECHL to AHL)
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The Stars head to Rockford, Illinois to take on the Rockford IceHogs for one game on Tuesday, November 19th at 7pm.
The Stars return to the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park for a two-game series November 22-23 against Rockford and Friday is Hockey Fights Cancer Night. We encourage fans to wear lavender in support. Saturday, November 23rd is the Stars Jersey House Flag giveaway presented by H-E-B.
The Stars will round out the month with the start of the longest road trip of the season as they head out west to California. They'll face the Ontario Reign on Friday, November 29th at 9pm CST and the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Saturday, November 30th at 8pm CST.