McKenna Moves into 10th All-Time after 3-1 Win
Feb 22, 2018|
Three Stars: Shots: Goaltenders: |
CEDAR PARK, Texas - In a tightly played goaltending duel at H-E-B Center, it was Mike McKenna that outlasted Anders Lindback with a 36-save performance to lead the Texas Stars to a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals on front of 5,839 in attendance on Friday night.
McKenna earned the 218th win of his AHL career to tie Red Almas for 10th all-time in league history in the final. Matt Mangene extended his point streak to four games for Texas with an assist, and Denis Gurianov's power-play goal in the third proved to be the game-winner.
The Stars (28-19-5-2) and Admirals (26-23-4-1) wrap up their weekend set Saturday at 7 p.m. CST in Cedar Park.
Holding a 1-0 lead in the third, Gurianov took advantage of a delay of game penalty against Milwaukee netminder Anders Lindback as the second-year forward tipped in Mangene's centering pass from the right-wing corner.
Late in the period and on the penalty kill again, the Admirals closed the gap to one after pulling their goaltender for a fifth skater on the ice when Trevor Murphy beat McKenna from the right circle on an odd-man rush. McKenna's shutout streak against Milwaukee came to an end a 118:36 after blanking the Admirals on Feb. 18 in a 1-0 final.
Brian Flynn added an empty-net goal on the power play to seal it and improve the Stars record to 15-3 against the Central Division this season
Lindback stopped 25 of 27 shots in net in the loss.
Gavin Bayreuther's blast from the point six minutes into the second period opened up the scoring for Texas.
Texas finished 2-for-5 on the man-advantage while the Admirals 0-for-2.
Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars