Late Power Play Goal Pushes Rockford Past Texas

Nov 13, 2022

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell 5-4 to the Rockford IceHogs in a game that saw five lead changes on Sunday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

Rockford opened the scoring 1:19 into Sunday’s affair on a wrist shot by David Gust from the right dot that eyed the top-left corner. Tanner Kero evened the score three and a half minutes later when he drove the right side of the goal from the neutral zone and snuck a one-handed backhand shot through Jaxson Stauber’s five-hole while fighting off an IceHogs’ defender. Gust struck again for Rockford by cleaning up a rebound in the slot before beating a sprawled-out Matt Murray to put the visiting IceHogs back on top 2-1 at the 8:37 mark. Despite being down one goal after one frame, Texas was outshooting Rockford 15-11.

 

The Stars wasted little time tying the game and claiming their first lead in the second period. Kero tied the game when he beat Stauber from the slot 57 seconds into the period for his second goal of the game. At 1:56, Riley Tufte tipped in a point shot by Will Butcher to put Texas on top 3-2. Rockford’s Bobby Lynch tied the game 3-3 at 13:30 when he chipped a forehand shot over Murray’s left shoulder on a breakaway. With 37.7 seconds left in the middle frame, Rockford reclaimed the lead when Isaak Phillips found the back of the net with a one-time shot from the top of the zone off a pass from his defensive partner Ian Mitchell. Down one after 40 minutes of play, Texas was still maintaining an edge in shots on goal 30-29 after being outshot 18-15 in the period.

 

Riley Damiani tied the game for Texas three minutes into the third when he sniped the top-right corner from the right face-off circle for his first goal of the season. With 3:42 remaining in regulation, Luke Philp served as the IceHogs’ hero when he scored the eventual game-winning goal on the power play. An assist from Mike Hardman led Philip into the slot alone, where he beat Murray with a backhand shot. Rockford hung on tight for the remainder of the game to prevail with a 5-4 victory that salvaged a split of the two-game series.

 

In goal for the IceHogs, Stauber picked up the win with a 42-save showing where he faced 46 shots. For the Stars, Murray made 33 stops on 38 shots.

 

Next on the docket for Texas is a Friday-Saturday series hosting the Manitoba Moose. Both games are slated for 7:00 p.m. starts at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski / Texas Stars

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 46	W: Stauber (RFD)	1: Gust (RFD)
Photo	RFD: 38	L: Murray (TEX)	2: Kero (TEX)
Video			3: Barber (TEX)