Texas Ties Game Twice Late Before Winning in Shootout

Dec 1, 2023

BAKERSFIELD, California – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, tied the game twice late in regulation before earning a 4-3 victory in a shootout over the Bakersfield Condors on Friday night at Mechanics Bank Arena.

 

The Stars struck first 1:29 into the contest when Logan Stankoven extended his point streak to eight games by chipping a shot in the slot past Olivier Rodrigue following an exchange prior with Curtis McKenzie. Texas carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after outshooting Bakersfield 12-11.

 

The second stanza saw Cameron Wright slide his first career AHL goal past Remi Poirier at the 18:39 mark to tie it for Bakersfield. Tied 1-1 after 40 minutes of action, the Condors outshot the Stars, 12-10, during the middle period to carry a 23-22 lead into the second break.

 

In the third period, the Condors took a 2-1 lead at 2:37 when Lane Pederson finished on a give-and-go play with Drake Caggiula off a two-on-one rush. After a Condors’ skater covered the puck with a glove in the crease, Stankoven was denied by Rodrigue on the ensuing penalty shot at 5:32. However, Oskar Back tied the game, 2-2, for Texas by redirecting in a point shot by Lian Bichsel with 3:12 remaining in regulation. The Condors reclaimed a 3-2 lead with 2:32 left on the clock when Caggiula took a shot that narrowly drifted across the goal line. Texas found another answer to tie it again, 3-3, which eventually forced overtime with 1:25 remaining after McKenzie swatted the puck in past Rodrigue near the net.

 

After extra time was not enough to determine a winner in Friday’s contest, Stankoven scored in the second round of the shootout and Matej Blumel won it in the fourth by scoring to give Texas an extra tally to add to its’ Central Division lead with 25 points.

 

Poirier picked up the win in goal for Texas to improve to 5-2-2 on the season after totaling 29 saves on 32 shots before making three stops in four rounds of a shootout. For the Condors, Rodrigue fell to 2-1-1 on the campaign by suffering the shootout loss after allowing three goals on 37 shots.

 

The Stars take on the Condors again on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. CST at Mechanics Bank Arena to close out the two-game series and their five-game road trip.

 

Photo Credit: Bakersfield Condors

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 38	W: Poirier (TEX)	1: Blumel (TEX)
Photo	BAK: 32	L: Rodrigue (BAK)	2: McKenzie (TEX)
Video			3: Caggiula (BAK)