Gameday Preview: Stars at Hershey Bears, Game 2

Texas Stars 46-27-3-4, 99 pts #2 West Division

at

Hershey Bears 60-17-0-3, 123 pts #1 East Division

Stars lead 1-0

June 5th at 6:00 PM

Giant Center, Hershey, PA

After Game 1's win for the Stars, there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth from central Pennsylvania. Calls that the Bears underestimated the Stars or that they were trying to be too fancy with their play have abounded. Bears Coach French agreed, "We're trying to be too cute, make that one more pass instead of one less pass and one more shot." And surely the Bears could have used a few more shots, especially in the first period when Texas set the tone early with a 12-2 shot advantage.

The Stars played their game well, keeping quality chances to a minimum. Matt Climie didn't give an out of this world performance, but a lot of that was because he didn't have to. His defenseman limited quality chances and cleared out rebounds for him. He definitely had a great game, but he got a lot of help from the defense. Texas will have a challenge of facing the Bears strong offense that has now had an opportunity to see how the Stars play their game against them.

Thursday was a night for guys who weren't on that top line or even top-6. Greg Rallo and Scott McCulloch, both on the third line centered by Morin, were your goal scorers. Was Hershey concentrating on containing Jamie Benn? It's possible, since Aaron Gagnon, one of his linemates, had a seemingly high number of quality chances.

The good news is that the Stars have already exceeded expectations for many. Hershey is now the team facing a 'must-win' situation. Coming back to Texas with a 0-2 deficit would be a killer for the Bears. Expect an intense game with a lot of physicality that we saw previewed in Game 1.

Stars injury/call up report:
Krahn (concussion, day-to-day)

Website: hersheybears.com
Twitter: @TheHersheyBears
Twitter (play-by-play): @jwaltonhockey
Blog (unofficial): Hershey Bears Hockey
Blog (unofficial): Stack the Pads