Colton Sceviour celebrates his hat trick goal. (Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars) |
"Coming in to start the third, no one expected the final," said Sceviour, who set the Texas Stars record for points in a game with five in the game. He added, "Travis mentioned the five point record on the bench right after I scored. I didn't know it until that point. I've never had a pro hat trick. It's a cool feeling for sure."
Abbotsford and Texas were both finishing a 3-in-3 weekend set, with the Heat coming off two games in Oklahoma City on Friday and Saturday.
"They had a tough road trip for the game here today," said Travis Morin, who scored his 7th goal of the year in the second period. "Both teams played three but it's always harder when you're on the road. They had five or six hours on the bus last night."
It was a tale of two halves for the Stars as Texas found itself down 3-1 thirty minutes into the contest.
"We didn't play that great in the first half of the game," said Sceviour. "They were taking it to us. When we got down 3-1, we realized we needed to wake up to win this game. We started playing our game and imposing our will on them."
Texas evened it up on goals from Morin and Mueller to end the second tied at three. The power play came alive in the third period to fuel the win. A 5-on-3 opportunity early in the final frame generated two goals in 22 seconds, and Texas was off to the races. McKenzie, Sceviour, Gaunce and Stransky all scored in the third with Sceviour getting all three in the period.
"It's good to see Sceviour get goals," added Coach Desjardins. "He's played well but it hasn't gone for him as much."
Cristopher Nilstorp stopped 20 of 23 shots for the win.
The Stars opened the scoring on a bad bounce off the stanchion. Abbotsford attempted to rim the puck around the back of the high on the glass, but the puck ricocheted out in front where Mike Hedden found the net for his second of the year. Abbotsford came back and scored two before the end of the period to put them ahead 2-1 after twenty. Tyler Wotherspoon scored the first of his pro career off a failed clear by the Stars. Greg Nemisz pushed the Heat ahead just a few minutes later.
Texas allowed another Abbotsford goal off the rush as former Griffin Chad Billins shot a low puck through the five hole of Nilstorp. Another turnover generated Travis Morin's 7th of the year as Colton Sceviour gloved a clearing attempt down to his stick and shot it on net. The rebound found Morin on the left wing side and cut the Heat lead to 3-2.
Chris Mueller extended his point streak to four games at the end of the second period with a power play goal. Patrik Nemeth got a stick to face, resulting in a four minute double minor to Carter Bancks. Texas scored on the second half of the man advantage with Mueller shooting home another rebound off a Sceviour shot and tied the game at three.
The third period explosion started as Ramage and Billins found themselves in the box and the Stars got a 5-on-3 power play. Curtis McKenzie crashed the net for a garbage goal and Sceviour scored just a few second later to put the score at 5-3.
Sceviour continued his dominance and the power play dominance overall just five minutes later with McKenzie assisting again in the seventh minute. Cameron Gaunce blasted home the Stars seventh of the night from the top of the zone, beating Brossoit cleanly.
Colton Sceviour tabbed his first professional hat trick with just over four minutes left in the game, finishing off a pass from Travis Morin for the 8-3 mark.
Matej Stransky added his first professional goal with just 14 seconds left in the game on a power play. Olsen was in the box for the rarely-called spearing.
Tonight's lines:
McKenzie-Morin-Sceviour
Hedden-Dowling-Ritchie
Petersen-Mueller-Ranford
Wathier-Peters-Stransky
Oleksiak-Rome
Fortunus-Nemeth
Jokipakka-Gaunce
Nilstorp
Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Campbell (callup)
Montgomery, Wrenn (scratch)
Smith (injured)
Tonight's attendance was 5,630.
AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Abbotsford - October 20 2013
Anyone else notice that Fortunus was constantly out of position defensively? He couldn't work the point correctly and a number of pucks left the offensive zone on his behalf. Also worried that Oleksiak may have hit his ceiling. Watching him defend against Abbortsford PP, he looked like he was in a fog most of the time, and was blocking Nilstorp's line of sight by being in the crease - but his stats won't reflect it, b/c he was on ice for a lot of the scoring frenzy in the third.
ReplyDeleteOleksiak has not been as good this year as he was last year. Needs to get over the hump. Sophomore slumps are not what the Dallas Stars need from their first round pick.
DeleteI could not agree with you guys more. I have not been able to call #6 Big Rig until I see him put the hurt on someone and shove guys away from the net. That being said, what an incredible game! I am so glad I caught it. They had a great turnout too. Way to go stars!
ReplyDeletewhat happened to #6 his big rig status is being revoked by fans everywhere until he puts a hurting on someone. and i agree i agree what is with our captain ? he is out of position on nearly every play. this is not captain worthy IMO. neither is screening your own goalie. glad Rome is back in Dallas he was probably the worse of the worst.
ReplyDeleteOleksiak needs to learn to play with his size to reach his potential, he seams to resist doing that. I'm not worried about Fortunus, The Stars are playing very aggressive now and I think it leads to those type of things. When the Stars are losing instead of winning 6-0 and 9-3, then it's a problem.
ReplyDelete