Stars Score Four Unanswered in Comeback Win over Iowa, 4-3
Mar 24, 2015DES MOINES, Iowa -- Four unanswered goals by the Texas Stars turned a two-goal deficit into a 4-3 comeback win over the Iowa Wild on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena to close out a four-game road trip through the Midwest and extend their lead for sixth-place in the AHL's Western Conference.
Texas (32-19-13-1) now leads the seventh-place Milwaukee Admirals by five points in the West with 11 games remaining in their regular season. Jack Campbell earned the win for the fifth time in his last six games, stopping 33 of 36 shots. Johan Gustafsson suffered the loss, also stopping 33. The Stars won three of their four games on the road trip and extended Iowa's (21-41-1-2) home winless skid to 12 games (0-11-0-1).
The Stars host the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday at 7 p.m. to kick off their Military Appreciation weekend.
After Zack Mitchell at 14:34 of the first and Joel Chouinard at 3:55 of the second pushed the Wild in front 2-0, Derek Hulak jumpstarted the Texas offense less than a minute later by snapping home his 18th of the season. Scott Glennie set up the goal by forcing a turnover at the Iowa blue line, then leading Hulak down the slot for the strike to make it 2-1.
Devin Shore knotted the game to close out a quick-passing sequence by the Stars where Matej Stransky placed the puck cross-ice to Julius Honka, who then slipped a backdoor feed to Shore for the easy tap-in goal and the second of his pro career. Texas then got their special teams involved with a rebound goal from Maxime Fortunus on the power play with 20 seconds remaining in the frame, set up by Greg Rallo's wrist shot from the right circle.
Brandon Troock extended the Stars' lead to 4-2 at 13:54 of the third, burying a loose puck at the top of the goal crease for his fifth of the season. With the goaltender pulled, Jared Knight brought Iowa back to within one driving through the right circle on a counter-attack rush with 1:10 remaining, but the Stars shut the door the rest of the way to seal their seventh win in the last eight games.
The Stars finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Wild went 0-for-3. The two teams will close their season series on April 7 in Des Moines.
Photo Credit: Reese Strickland/Iowa Wild
| Three Stars: 1. Derek Hulak (TEX) 2. Jack Campbell (TEX) 3. Stephane Veilleux (IA) |
Shots: Stars - 37 Wild - 36 |
Goaltenders: |