Texas Falls to Iowa in Regular Season Finale after Clinching Division

Apr 16, 2023

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, were defeated 5-2 by the Iowa Wild to close out the regular season Sunday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

Riley Damiani put the Stars on top first 4:58 into Fan Appreciation Night in Texas. Damiani scored the game’s first goal and his 13th of the season when he tapped a pass out of the left corner by Matej Blumel behind Jesper Wallstedt. Sammy Walker tied the game 1-1 with 5.9 seconds remaining in the period when he shoveled a rebound past Remi Poirier.

 

The second period saw Iowa claim its first lead at 8:47 when Nick Swaney snapped a shot past Poirier from the top of the right circle. Swaney then extended the Wild lead to 3-1 at 11:47 when he finished on a give-and-go exchange across the slot from Nic Petan.

 

Iowa got out to a 4-1 lead in the third when Michael Milne tipped a point shot by Riese Zmolek over the left shoulder of Poirier at 3:53. Texas creeped to within two when Ben Gleason blasted a shot from the point through Wallstedt’s trapper and in to make it 4-2 with 9:24 to go. The Wild capped a 5-2 victory by scoring with 4:51 left in regulation on a tap-in by Patrick Curry from Damien Giroux.

 

Wallstedt earned the win in goal for Iowa after making 19 saves on 21 shots. Poirier came down with the loss after turning aside 26 of the 31 shots he faced.

 

The Texas Stars have finished the regular season with a 40-20-9-3 record, good for the top spot in the AHL’s Central Division and a first-round bye in the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Stars will take on the winner of fourth-seed Iowa and fifth-seed Rockford in the second round. Dates and times for the series are to be determined, pending the outcome of the play-in series. Follow along for updates on TexasStars.com and the Stars social media pages.

 

Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski / Texas Stars

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 21	W: Wallstedt (IA)	1: Swaney (IA)
Photo	IA: 31	L: Poirier (TEX)	2: Petan (IA)
Video			3: Blumel (TEX)