Texas Completes Weekend Sweep of Wilkes-Barre with 5-3 Victory

Dec 7, 2019

WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, completed a weekend sweep of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in an exciting 5-3 victory on Saturday night. With the win, the Stars extend their point streak to six consecutive games.

 

Jason Robertson dominated the first period as he scored his team-leading ninth and 10^th goals of the season. After 15 scoreless minutes, the forward teamed up with linemate Joel L’Esperance to break the scoreless tie. In a battle at the half-wall, L’Esperance stole the puck from the Penguins and raced into the zone to create a two-on-one opportunity. After a Wilkes-Barre defender fell to the ice, L'Esperance dished a pass to Robertson, who beat Emil Larmi five-hole. The rookie’s quick shot proved to be successful again with 0.8 seconds remaining in the period. Robertson grabbed the puck off the wall and buried his second goal of the game as he beat Larmi five-hole once again.

 

Wilkes-Barre answered early in the first to make it 2-1. After Jan Drozg slid the puck to David Warsofsky on the blue line, the defenseman blasted a shot that rattled off the post. Sam Miletic then cleaned up the rebound for the Penguins' first goal. Shortly thereafter, Texas faced hefty penalty killing time as Parker MacKay was whistled for tripping and 20 seconds later Dillon Heatherington joined MacKay in the box for a high-sticking double minor. The Penguins ultimately converted on each power play to flip the script on Texas. Warsofsky net a goal of his own early in the power play with a one-timer from the blue line. Just over one minute later, Zach Trotman ripped another shot from the blue line past Landon Bow give the Penguins a 3-2 lead.

 

Facing a one-goal deficit, Texas got an opportunity on the man advantage thanks to an interference call. Just 34 seconds into the power play, Emil Djuse slid the puck to L’Esperance from the top of the right circle. A quick shot off the stick of L’Esperance then flew over the pad of Larmi to level the score at three.

 

Thanks to the second period, each team was successful on the man advantage. Texas net one goal on four chances while Wilkes-Barre converted on two of their four chances.

 

The tie was short-lived as Joel Kiviranta notched the eventual game-winning goal 15 seconds into the third period. The puck bounced off a defenders skate, allowing Kiviranta to steal the puck in front, and tap it past Larmi. The Stars stayed disciplined in the defensive zone and allowed just nine shots on net in the third period. As icing on the cake, Nick Caamano tacked on an empty-net goal to finalize scoring in a 5-3 victory.

 

Bow earned the victory after stopping 30-of-33 shots on goal. The Stars netminder also became the team’s all-time winningest goaltender with his 57^th career win. Larmi suffered the loss with four goals against on 32 shots as Texas combined for a five-goal night.

 

The Stars and return home to face the Manitoba Moose on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019 at 7 p.m. The game opens a stretch of three games in four nights for Texas at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, facing the Moose and Tucson Roadrunners in those games.

 

Written by Stevie Golding

Photo Credit: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 33	W: Landon Bow (TEX)	1: Joel Kiviranta (TEX)
Photo	WBS: 29	L: Emil Larmi (WBS)	2: Jason Robertson (TEX)
Video			3: Sam Miletic (WBS)