Stars Slam Marlies 6-3 to Even Series at 1-1
May 26, 2014Texas Stars forwards Brett Ritchie and Scott Glennie notched two goals each and Mike Hedden chipped in three assists in a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Marlies in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night in front of 3,767 fans at Cedar Park Center.
The Marlies opened up the scoring with Jerry D’Amigo forcing a turnover in the Stars’ offensive zone, carrying the puck down to the right faceoff circle and firing a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net to take the lead at 4:22 in the first frame. Texas right wing Brett Ritchie would make it an even game finding a cross-slot feed from Chris Mueller and snapping his shot into the top shelf for a power play goal at 16:51. The Stars out-shot the Marlies 18-7 in the first period, but the score was even at one.
The two teams would alternate scoring during a wild five-goal second period. At 8:37, Texas would take the lead with Scott Glennie racing in to finish a loose rebound off a Mike Hedden shot on goal. Assisted by Hedden and Jamie Oleksiak, Glennie’s goal forced Toronto to play from behind for the first time during the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs. Just over three minutes later, the Marlies tied the game with Josh Leivo finally finding the net on his third shot attempt at the top of the crease for a power play goal. Ritchie would score his second goal of the night at 16:45, one-timing a beautiful centering pass by Kevin Henderson from behind the net. Toronto forward Peter Holland answered back for the Marlies at 18:11 to tie the game at three, but Texas would be quick to respond. Stars rookie Brendan Ranford cut through the slot and found Mueller at the left post to jam the puck in past McIntyre at 18:59 for a 4-3 lead.
With just over five minutes left in regulation, Glennie again sped towards the crease and scored his second goal of the night, cleaning up after shots by both Hedden and Dustin Jeffrey had been denied by MacIntyre. With 9.9 seconds left in regulation, Hedden added his third helper of the evening when he cleared the puck to Travis Morin at center ice and Morin did the rest, chipping the puck beyond a Toronto defender and then chasing it down to score an empty net goal. It was Morin’s third goal, and 13th point, of the playoffs completed the Stars’ 6-3 victory.
Cristopher Nilstorp (6-2) finished with 27 saves on 30 shots and earned his sixth win of the playoffs in goal for Texas. Drew MacIntyre (8-1) stopped 46-of-51 shots faced and suffered his first loss of the post-season for Toronto. The Stars out-shot the Marlies 52-30 in the game and went 1-for-7 on the power play. Toronto was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
The 2014 Western Conference Finals will now shift to Toronto for Games 3, 4 & 5 at Ricoh Coliseum, beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday, May 28th at 6:00 p.m. CT. If necessary, Games 6 & 7 will be back at Cedar Park Center on Monday, June 2nd and Tuesday, June 3rd, both at 7:30 p.m. CT. Texas Stars’ 2014 Calder Cup playoff ticket packages are on sale now! Reserve your seats for all Calder Cup playoff games at Cedar Park Center at a discounted rate. For more information on Texas Stars season tickets call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit www.TexasStarsHockey.com.