Wild Win Tight Fight Over Stars in Cedar Park

Mar 29, 2024

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell 4-3 against the Iowa Wild after allowing a late power-play goal on Friday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

Turner Elson opened the scoring 34 seconds in to put Iowa ahead 1-0 when he gathered a blocked shot before beating Matt Murray on the stick side. Texas answered as Curtis McKenzie tied the game 1-1 for the Stars at 3:52 when he deflected in a backhanded shot from Mavrik Bourque to beat Jesper Wallstedt low on the blocker side. The Wild regained the lead with Steven Fogarty tipped in a shot from the right point past Murray on the power play at 9:04 of the first period.

 

In the second period, Matej Blumel scored his team-leading 27th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2 on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle during a power play 45 seconds into the middle frame. Elson gave Iowa the lead again 38 seconds later at 1:23 when he potted a rebound from the low slot to make it 3-2 Wild.

 

The Stars evened the score again at the 11:19 mark of the third period when Matthew Seminoff corralled a rebound in the slot to beat Wallstedt. Caedan Bankier put the Wild ahead 4-3 by scoring the eventual game-winning goal with 5:02 remaining in regulation when he snapped a shot from the right circle on a power play past Murray’s glove.

 

Picking up the win in goal for Iowa, Wallstedt improved to 21-17-3 after turning aside 30 of the 33 shots he faced. At the other end, Murray fell to 13-14-2 on the season after making 18 saves on 22 shots.

 

The Stars finish a season series against Iowa on Saturday with a 7:00 p.m. face-off to resume Military Appreciation Weekend at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski / Texas Stars

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 33	W: Wallstedt (IA)	1: Bankier (IA)
Photo	IA: 22	L: Murray (TEX)	2: Elson (IA)
Video			3: Bourque (TEX)