Admirals Strike in Final Minute to Split with Stars

Mar 4, 2023

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell 3-2 following a late goal by the Milwaukee Admirals Saturday night in Cedar Park.

 

The Stars skated in front of their eighth sellout crowd of the season Saturday night as 6,778 fans packed the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

Following a scoreless first period, Michael McCarron put the Admirals in the score column first with a short-handed goal 49 seconds into the middle frame. McCarron buried the go-ahead goal by firing a slap shot into the top-left corner from the right circle off a rush after intercepting a pass near the Stars’ blue line. Milwaukee extended its lead to a pair eight seconds after a penalty kill at 5:42 when Jordan Gross received a pass out of the penalty box, which led to a rush alone against Remi Poirier that saw Egor Afanasyev make it 2-0.

 

With 6:37 remaining in the second period, Will Butcher cut the deficit in half when his shot from the right point glanced off an Admirals’ player and past Devin Cooley. Two minutes later, Riley Damiani tied the game 2-2 by tapping in a backdoor feed from Thomas Harley with 4:32 left in the stanza.

 

Late in the third period, Admirals’ forward Spencer Stastney tipped the eventual game-winning goal past Poirier with 56 seconds left to give Milwaukee the 3-2 victory.

 

Cooley earned the win in goal after making 35 saves on 37 shots. Poirier, now 3-1-1, suffered his first regulation loss at the AHL level while making 32 stops on 35 shots.

 

The Stars hit the road next week for a six-game stint in California. The road trip begins with Texas taking on Bakersfield Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. CT at Mechanics Bank Arena.

 

Photo Credit: Ross Bonander / Texas Stars

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 37	W: Cooley (MIL)	1: Stastney (MIL)
Photo	MIL: 35	L: Poirier (TEX)	2: Harley (TEX)
Video			3: McCarron (MIL)