Back-to-Back Goals Propel Stars to 3-2 Victory over Moose
Mar 27, 2019|
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CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, welcome the Manitoba Moose back to the Lone Star State as they battled for two crucial points in the Central Division standings. The Stars came out on top of a 3-2 victory after Michael Mersch and Dillon Heatherington netted back-to-back goals during 4-on-4 action in the third period.
The Stars battled back in the latter half of the third period while trailing 2-1. Nicholas Caamano and Jansen Harkins each were sent to the box for roughing minors, placing the teams 4-on-4. Mersch and Heatherington scored their goals just 34 seconds apart to steal the lead from Manitoba.
As the Moose attempted to clear, Mersch got a hold of the puck inches away from the blue line to meet Berdin 1-on-1 and fired a shot over his blocker to tie the game up. Mersch has scored goals in each back to back games against Berdin, netting the game winner on Mar. 15 in overtime. Moments later, Erik Condra carried the puck to center ice and slid it to Heatherington for a breakaway. The defenseman beat two Moose skaters to face Berdin and tuck the game-winning goal into the top left corner. The game winner was the first of Heatherington’s career and was his second goal of the season.
Texas controlled most of the action early and would continue to speed things up seconds after the eight-minute mark of the first period. Joel Hanley sent the first goal of the night past Mikhail Berdin for his seventh goal of the season to lead the Stars blue line. Colin Markison dished the puck to Nicholas Caamano as he skated up the zone while Hanley creeped in towards Berdin. Caamano slid the puck to Hanley who net a backhand shot from the ice. Hanley extended his point streak to four games and has goals in back to back contests.
A few minutes later, Denis Gurianov came inches away from scoring on a wide-open net, but Berdin rushed back to the crease with less than a second to spare to make the save and avoid surrendering a 2-0 deficit. The Stars would get their only power play of the night in the first as well and came up empty. Manitoba also was held without a goal on their one power play chance.
Manitoba matched the Stars speed in the middle frame, firing a game-high 14 shots on goal. The Moose eventually scored the only goal of the period when Marko Dano took a shot from the blue line that just trickled through the legs of Landon Bow, tying the game at one.
Five minutes into a quick third period, Manitoba’s Seth Griffith broke the tie to give his team a 2-1 lead. The bouncing puck was settled by Jansen Harkins and sent to the left side of the crease for Griffith to bury the go-ahead goal.
Landon Bow earned the victory in the contest after stopping 25-of-27 shots he faced including a final push from Manitoba. Bow is the first Texas goaltender since Christoper Nilstorp in 2013-2014 to earn 24 wins in a single season and holds the third highest win total in team history in a single season. Berdin suffered the loss after giving up three goals on Texas’ 32 shots.
Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski