Texas Stars Crush Heat With Seven Goal Night

Cameron Gaunce (Credit: Clint Trahan/Abbotsford Heat)

Colton Sceviour and Scott Glennie headlined a seven goal outburst for Texas, setting them back on their winning ways as the AHL takes a five day respite for the All-Star festivities in St. John's, Newfoundland. Each forward potted two goals on the night while Sceviour added an assist as well for good measure. Jamie Oleksiak, Justin Dowling, Curtis McKenzie and Chris Mueller all had two assist games. Other Texas goal scorers included Jyrki Jokipakka, Brett Ritchie and Mike Hedden. Among other notable stats, AHL All-Star Ben Street of Abbotsford was minus-4 on the night registering zero shots.

The win pushes Texas to two points behind Abbotsford in the division race. Cristopher Nilstorp got the start for the second night in a row. He stopped 33 of 35. Abbotsford started Roy again but he was chased by Texas after allowing four goals on 24 shots. Ortio stopped 14 of 17 in relief.

The Stars opened the scoring early with Colton Sceviour getting his 28th of the year less than a minute in, breaking a six game goalless drought. The tip came off the centering feed from Jeffrey, who replaced McKenzie on the wing for the first period. Abbotsford scored the next two. The cram play by Reinhart ended the period at a one all score. The Heat jumped ahead in the second with a shorthanded goal by Shane O'Brien.

The rest of the second period was all Texas. Brett Ritchie broke up the Stars skid on the power play with his eleventh of the year up high on Roy. Scott Glennie put in his pair next. Texas avvenged the previous shorthanded tally with one of their own. With Derek Smith stickless on the defense, Glennie shoveled one in off the two-on-one rush. Smith was again on the wrong side of a score as Glennie banked the 4-2 goal off of him for his eighth of the year. That goal would end Roy's night in net.

Less than thirty seconds later, Jyrki Jokipakka put in his fourth of the year. Colton Sceviour threw the puck back to the point where Jokipakka fired it home to make it 5-2. It was Joni Ortio's first shot against of the night.

Within the span of twenty seconds in the second, Hedden and Sceviour put in consecutive power play goals on two- and one-man advantages. The third period blew by uneventfully, putting the Stars in the win column for the first time in over a week, ending a three game skid.

Texas is in action against on Saturday after the break against the Bulldogs in Hamilton.

Tonight's lines:
McKenzie-Morin-Sceviour
Jeffrey-Mueller-Glennie
Hedden-Dowling-Ritchie
Ranford-Peters-Stransky

Oleksiak-Meech
Jokipakka-Gaunce
Labrie-Fortunus

Nilstorp

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Wathier, Button, Wrenn (scratch)
Petersen, Nemeth, Campbell, Vause (injury)

Tonight's attendance was 2,569.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Abbotsford - February 9 2014