Stars Fall Victim to Moose Power Play

Apr 19, 2024

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, suffered an 8-3 loss in the second to last game of the regular season Friday at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

A capacity crowd of 6,778 gave the Stars a team-record 12th sellout of the season, but after leading 2-0 in the first period, Texas fell victim to five Manitoba power play goals in a penalty-riddled affair.

Emilio Pettersen opened the scoring just over four minutes into the game on a delayed penalty and Matej Blumel fired home a one-timer on an odd-man rush later in the opening frame to make it 2-0 in favor of the Stars. Blumel’s goal gave Texas a power play goal in five straight games. The Moose starting goaltender Oskari Salminen had to leave the game late in the period and Thomas Milic entered in relief. Milic stopped 17 of 18 in the eventual win.

Kristian Reichel put the Moose on the board in the final minute of the first period, and Manitoba added four more goals in the second period to lead 5-2 after 40 minutes. The game featured 74 combined penalty minutes and 12 combined power plays, as Manitoba’s special teams prevailed. Jeff Malott and Reichel scored consecutive goals 46 seconds apart during a 4-on-4 skate to put the Moose ahead 3-2 early in the second period, before Parker Ford and Colby Barlow added power play goals in the frame.

Dominic Toninato, Ville Heinola and Simon Lundmark also added power play tallies in the third period to give Manitoba five on seven opportunities in the game. Trailing 8-2 in the final minute, Fredrik Karlstrom tipped a Christian Kyrou shot in the right circle for the third Texas goal and the first against Milic. Remi Poirier stopped 27 of 35 shots thrown his way in the loss.

The Stars and Moose face-off once more in the regular season finale Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The two teams then clash in a best-of-three Central Division first round playoff series next week. All three games, if necessary, are at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Game One is Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. and Game Two is Thursday at 7:00 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 would be Friday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at www.texasstars.com/tickets.

The Texas Stars are the primary development affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars. For more information, call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit TexasStars.com.

Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 25	W: Milic (MB)	1: Heinola (MB)
Photo	SJ: 35	L: Poirier (TEX)	2: Reichel (MB)
Video			3: Malott (MB)