Glennie's OT Winner Pushes Texas Past OKC

Scott Glennie (Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

It wasn't pretty, but two points is two points. After overcoming three separate one-goal deficits, Texas finally got the lead for good on Scott Glennie's OT winner.

"I don't think that was one of our better games," said Glennie. "But I think we battled hard. It was playoff hockey tonight. It's good to know we can come back in the third and get wins like that because we're going to have to do that come playoff time."

Missing some of their top firepower in Mark Arcobello and Roman Horak, the Barons showed no signs of distress in the scoring department.

"They had a lot of guys out tonight," said Coach Willie Desjardins. "You have to commend them on how hard they worked. I think we were feeling the effects of coming off the road. We were tired."

The power play was what kept Texas in it through out the game. The Stars went 2-for-4 on the night on goals from Glennie and Dustin Jeffrey. That combo also put together the game-winning goal in OT.

The playoff atmosphere of the game extended through the crowd and onto the ice, according to Brett Ritchie, who notched the game-tying goal in the third.

"There were a few turnovers, but other than that, it was very tight. It was very intense."

Cristopher Niltorp got the start and stopped 34 of 37 against.

The Barons drew first blood as C.J. Stretch walked in past the Texas defense and backhanded one beyond a sprawling Nilstorp's reach. The Stars would even things up three minutes later on their first shot of the power play. Travis Morin fed the puck down low to Curtis McKenzie, who made some room for himself at the goal but then dished to Glennie on the far side for the easy tally.

Just 29 seconds later, Matt Ford picked up a loose puck off a miscommunication between Jamie Oleksiak and Cameron Gaunce behind the net.

The Texas power play activated again for the tying goal at two this time. Dustin Jeffrey with the turn-around shot got his fourth of the season, again on the power play with Leach in the box.

Glennie added, "We're missing some guys [on the power play] but we still went 2-for-4. It wasn't the best job, but we'll take it."

Within a minute, OKC had scored to go back up 3-2. The Stars went to the room after forty with a deficit thanks to Alex Lavoie's first AHL goal.

"It was a pretty fast-paced game to start," said Brett Ritchie. "I don't think we played our best the first half of the game, but I think we settled in a bit and started taking it to them in the third period. You could sort of feel in the building that we were going to score."

Ritchie was right, and he was the beneficiary. It's not like he wasn't trying before the third though. Ritchie tied his own franchise record for shots with ten in the game.

Ritchie calls the play himself, "Someone threw it up to me there as I cut through the middle. I threw it to the net on my backhand. We had traffic and it happened to go in."

The game went to OT as tensions continued to flare. Jeffrey and Glennie had been hot all night. It just figured they would combine for the winner.

Glennie dropped the puck for Jeffrey, who fired it past Bachman off the tip from Glennie.

"I think it bounced off my hip," said Glennie. "I'd have to watch the video. I'll take it. It wasn't designed. Me and Jeffrey will take anything we can get tonight. We're happy to have that goal."

With two points, Texas is rewarded by staying in first place for another night. They gave up a point to the 9th ranked team, preventing them from clinching the playoffs this weekend. The Stars face the Barons again tomorrow.

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

Oleksiak-Gaunce
Nemeth-Meech
Jokipakka-Fortunus

Nilstorp

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Sceviour, Mueller (callup)
Wrenn, Labrie (scratch)
Petersen (injury)

Today's attendance was 5,808.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Oklahoma City - March 21 2014