Stars Top Admirals in Return to Cedar Park
Feb 27, 2019|
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CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, welcomed the Milwaukee Admirals back to Texas in a Wednesday night rivalry matchup. The Stars came out on top of a 4-2 game, earning two crucial points in Central Division’s tight playoff race. Seven players would find their name on the scoresheet, leading the Stars to a 5-0-2-0 record against the Admirals this season.
The Stars started the game fast, and wasted no time getting the puck past Admirals goaltender Tom McCollum. Veteran forward Michael Mersch got the Stars on the board just 35 seconds into the contest. Justin Dowling slid the puck past Milwaukee’s defenseman Frederic Allard and onto the stick of Mersch, who let the lamp for his 15th goal on the campaign.
Just three minutes later, Brad McClure scored his first of a multi-goal night. The rookie got ahold of the puck off an initial shot by Colton Hargrove and skated to the left side of McCollum to tuck a goal into the wide-open space. He would find the back of the net again at 9:16, this time on the power play. Adam Mascherin sent a pass across the top of the crease that landed on McClure’s stick and he sent it into the yawning net, tallying the eventual game-winning goal before the midway point of the first period.
In a quiet second period, the Admirals capitalized on a 2-on-1. Yakov Trenin buried a rebound past Landon Bow five minutes into the middle frame to open scoring for the visiting team. Following the Trenin goal the Stars weathered a pair of Milwaukee power plays and ended the frame with a 3-1 lead.
Early in the final frame, Stars defenseman Dillion Heatherington was whistled for a pair, two minute tripping penalties, leaving the team with some time to kill. After killing off the first two minutes of the Admirals power play, about 15 seconds into the second penalty, Adam Helewka converted for the Admirals to make it a 3-2 game. The team would eventually hold the Admirals on 4-of-5 chances on the man advantage. The Stars power play unit stayed hot, going 1-for-2 on the night.
As icing on the cake, Erik Condra buried a shot on Milwaukee’s empty net with thirty seconds left to play, insuring the win for his team. Bow held down the fort in net for the Stars, stopping 23 shots by the opposing team. The Texas goaltender captured his 19th win on the season and his fifth against the Admirals.
The Stars and Admirals meet for the final game of the series in Milwaukee at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on March 5th. Texas prepares for a pair of games against the Chicago Wolves this weekend to wrap up a three-game home stand.
Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski