Stars Net Three Unanswered Goals, Top Wild 4-2
Jan 12, 2019|
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CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, faced the Iowa Wild in in tonight’s contest. The team battled back from a first period deficit to come out on top of a 4-2 victory. Joel L’Esperance recorded three points and has seven goals in the last six games.
Colton Hargrove opened scoring just 2:14 into the game on a feed from Adam Mascherin. He crossed the blue line and beat Kappo Kahkonen on his right side to give the Stars the first advantage of the game. Sam Anas and Matt Read quickly responded for Iowa, scoring a pair of goals just 20 seconds apart to steal the Stars early lead, in under a minute.
L’Esperance wasted no time getting the equalizer for his team, scoring 4:46 into the middle period. Stars defenseman Dilon Heatherington made a cross-ice pass that bounced off Matt Bartkowsi and right in front of Kahkonen. Each team battled for the loose puck, and L’Esperance was able to tuck it into the goal, the beginning of another multi-goal night for the league-leading rookie scorer.
After five minutes passed, the Stars regained the lead. L’Esperance carried the puck into the zone off a faceoff and dealt it to Michael Mersch to take Kahkonen one-on-one. The forward went bar down for his ninth goal of the campaign. As icing on the cake, L’Esperance tossed his 22nd goal of the season into the empty net with seconds left in the third period to make it a 4-2 game.
The Stars penalty kill played a huge roll in the game halting all three Iowa opportunities. Texas also outshot the Wild 38-27 in the game.
Philippe Desrosiers started in his first game at home since November 24th, and held down the fort for his team, earning his third win of the season. After the early back-to-back goals, Desrosiers made 25 saves to hold Iowa from scoring for the remainder of the game The Stars extend their point streak at the H-E-B Center to eleven straight games.