Stars Top Penguins 4-3 in Shootout Thriller

Jan 17, 2020

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, topped the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4-3 in a shootout thriller on Friday night at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The Stars lead was matched by the Penguins twice in the game to force the shootout. Texas completes a season sweep of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with four wins in four games.

 

Texas struck early with a pair of goals to take the lead. Nick Caamano opened scoring against the Penguins less than two minutes into the game as he skated alongside the boards after collecting the puck from Emil Djuse at the blue line. The forward then rushed toward the net, beating out a Penguins defender and lifted the puck between Dustin Tokarski’s arm and body for the first goal of the game. Shortly thereafter, Ben Gleason etched his name on the scoresheet with his second goal of the season. Riley Tufte battled through pressure in the right circle to dish a smooth pass to Jason Robertson, who then tipped the puck to Gleason. Within seconds, the defenseman quickly ripped a shot past Tokarski to double the Stars lead. 

 

Tokarski was relieved of his work in net after the goal and Emil Larmi took over for the Penguins. He helped settle down the game and before the end of the period, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got on the board as Adam Johnson went five-hole on a quick shot in front of Jake Oettinger.

 

Offense continued in the second thanks to power plays on both ends of the ice. The Penguins were awarded two consecutive power plays and converted 10 seconds into the second. Johnson controlled the puck from the top of the left circle and dished it to Anthony Angello, who was parked in front of the net. Angello then redirected the puck to Kevin Roy for a goal that briefly tied the game at two. However, Texas’ power play unit answered five minutes later to reclaim the lead. Anthony Louis walked in from the left circle after receiving the puck from Djuse at the point and shot a laser over Larmi’s shoulder to give the Stars the one-goal advantage headed into the third period.

 

Texas began the third period on a penalty kill that carried over from the second. The shorthanded action then turned 5-on-3 for an extended period of time as the Stars were whistled twice in the first minute of the period. With the Stars shorthanded, Kevin Roypassed the puck up to San Miletic from the bottom of the right circle. From there, Miletic made a cross-ice pass to David Warsofsky, who blasted a shot at Oettinger’s glove side to level the score at three and eventually force overtime.

 

Each team saw a flurry of chances during an intense 3-on-3 overtime period, including a wrister from Brad McClure that came just inches away from ending the game as well breakaway opportunities from Louis and Tanner Kero that were stopped by Larmi. Nevertheless, the battle continued as overtime expired, forcing a shootout. 

 

Robertson got the shootout started and beat Larmi to give Texas the early advantage as Oettinger made a save on Warsofsky. The following round featured a tying goal Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Jordy Bellerive, who snuck a shot over the red line to level the score. After a pair of stops in the third round, Caamano net the eventual game-winner, going five-hole on Larmi. However to seal the win, Oettinger needed a save and followed up the goal with his a stellar glove stop, taking his ninth win this year in a 4-3 decision. 

 

The Stars now hit the road for a pair of Central Division matchups. Texas and Iowa are slated to battle in Des Moines, Iowa on Monday at noon before a Wednesday night game against the Rockford IceHogs.

Written By Stevie Golding
Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 30	W: Jake Oettinger (TEX)	1: Nick Caamano (TEX)
Photo	WBS: 30	L: Emil Larmi (WBS)	2: Anthony Louis (TEX)
Video			3: Jake Oettinger (TEX)