Stars Steal Victory in Tucson with Late Short-Handed Goal

Oct 19, 2024

TUCSON, Arizona – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, overcame three different deficits and used a short-handed goal with 1:14 left in regulation to beat the Tucson Roadrunners 6-4 Saturday at Tucson Arena.

 

With the score tied 4-4 and the Stars on a late penalty kill, Emilio Pettersen stole the puck away from Roadrunners goaltender Matthew Villalta and stuffed the puck into an open net for a short-handed game-winning goal.

 

What started as a scoreless first 17 minutes led to a flurry of goals before the end of the opening frame. Tucson struck first when Cameron Hebig chipped in a loose puck in front of Magnus Hellberg with 2:32 left. Texas answered quickly, as Kole Lind snapped a wrist shot past Villalta from the top of the right circle just 20 seconds later to tie the game. It was Lind’s second goal in as many games. A late one-timer from Maveric Lamoureux gave the Roadrunners a 2-1 lead with just 4.4 seconds showing before the first intermission.

 

Andrew Agozzino capitalized on a delay penalty by batting a puck out of mid-air to give Tucson its third goal midway through the second period. Trailing 3-1, the Stars went on a seven-minute power play later in the frame and Chase Wheatcroft snapped a puck through traffic to close the deficit back to one. The Stars evened the score before the end of the stanza as Antonio Stranges knocked down a Villalta clearing attempt while on the forecheck and he set up Justin Hryckowian for his second goal of the season.

 

The Roadrunners regained the lead near the midway point of the third period when Hunter Drew crashed the net and jammed in a rebound to make it 4-3. Just under four minutes later, Michael Karow clanked a point shot off the post and in to even the score at 4-4. Texas needed to kill two different penalties in the final seven minutes, leading to Pettersen’s short-handed heroics. Hryckowian added an empty net goal in the final minute from the full length of the ice to complete a two-goal game and the Stars’ 6-4 triumph.

 

Hellberg stopped 25 of 29 shots in the victory to move to 2-0-0, while Villalta suffered the loss with 30 saves on 36 Texas attempts.

 

The Stars and Roadrunners face-off again Sunday at 6:00 p.m. CT at Tucson Arena to wrap up the weekend series. Catch all the action on AHLTV on FloHockey.

 

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.