Stars Fall to Moose in Back and Forth 4-3 Game
Mar 13, 2019|
Dahill Office Technology Corporation Three Stars: Shots: Goaltenders: |
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, and Manitoba Moose traded blows tonight with deflections and crazy bounces being the story of a 4-3 Manitoba win at Bell MTS Place. The Stars and Moose will reconvene for another game on Friday night.
Texas gathered the bulk of chances in the first period, sending eight shots onto the net of Eric Comrie. One even passed the netminder but could not beat the left post as Erik Condra hit his first of two posts in the game. The opening period proved to have no score before a five goal outburst in the second frame.
Deflections were the cause of each of the first two goals. Cam Maclise waited in front of the net before deflecting his second goal of the season past Landon Bow to open the scoring three and a half minutes into the middle period. Less than two minutes later, Brad McClure followed suit. The winger stood in front of Comrie’s crease, deflecting a Ben Gleason shot from the blue line into the net. Adam Mascherin began the play, preventing an icing and forcing the puck to the blue line. McClure’s goal was his fourth of the season and his fourth goal in 11 games.
Defenseman Joel Hanley net his fifth of the season in an odd way to give Texas the lead. Eleven minutes into the period, the blue liner dumped the puck along the glass from center ice. Comrie retreated behind the net in anticipation of the puck, but it skipped off the stanchion and rolled right into the empty net for a 2-1 Texas lead.
The Moose capitalized on one of three power plays in the game to tie the contest with five minutes left in the period. Marko Dano notched his 10th of the season, connecting on another deflection in front of the net. Finally the Moose regained their lead on an odd play. Bow was tied up in the crease while the puck worked to Jimmy Oligny on the left side of the ice with 30 seconds to play. The defenseman saw Bow fall to the ice and fired a pass to Cameron Schilling for a one-timer on an empty net to take a 3-2 lead with 13 seconds left in the second period.
The Stars fell 0-for-4 on the power play but used their final man advantage to tie the game. Within seconds of the power play ending, Condra collected a loose puck in front of the net and fed defenseman Gavin Bayreuther in the left circle. He walked down and threw a shot past Comrie’s blocker to even the game at 3-3 with less than 10 minutes to play.
The tying goal would not be enough to gather a point in the decision however. Felix Girard net his fourth of the season with less than six minutes to play to take the eventual game winning goal. Jansen Harkins fired a shot to the pad of Bow who made a terrific first save but Girard was right next to the net to flip the puck in. The Moose eventually held of the late Texas surge that saw another shot by Condra hit the post.
Photo Credit: Manitoba Moose