Depth Scoring Helps Texas Stars Knock Off Moose 6-1

Remi Elie, Gemel Smith and Cole Ully (Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)
Texas got the bounce back win they wanted tonight, hanging six on an NHL calibre goalie and ending the week with five points in three games.

"I thought it was a solid effort form start to finish," said Coach Laxdal. "We got key contributions for [Gemel Smith]'s line. [Manitoba's Connor] Hellebuyck's a hell of a goaltender. Now the weekend looks pretty good with 5 of 6 points."

The line of Gemel Smith, Cole Ully and Remi Elie was a big part of the team's success tonight. They contributed three of the six goals and combined for seven points.

"It's a big opportunity for us in the bottom six to play a little more ice time," said Elie. "You just have to go out there and do what we did tonight."

Neither Elie nor Ully knew exactly what to attribute their chemistry to, but Ully was probably on the right track when he noted that when he gets "a chance to play those bigger minutes, it's nice and builds confidence"

With big scorers Greg Rallo and Travis Morin out and Brett Ritchie and Radek Faksa in Dallas, Coach Laxdal is asking more of his bottom six. They were able to deliver tonight. Cory Kane also scored and Branden Troock dropped the gloves.

"They played with a lot of energy and structure," said Laxdal. "They got rewarded for that tonight. I liked the depth we had."

Jason Dickinson got Texas started in the first period after he was left all alone in front of Hellbuyck. Cole Ully polished off a rebound to open the second and Mattias Backman fired in a power play goal shortly thereafter. It appeared the rout was on.

However, Scott Kosmachuk ended the shutout bid with a power play goal of his own. A few moments later, Maxime Lagace was forced to come up with a magnificent save as the Moose pushed further. The save kept the game at 3-1 after forty.

The bottom six exploded in the third period. Gemel Smith collect his tenth and eleventh goals of the year just over four minutes apart. Remi Elie noted Smith's two-on-one goal came as a direct result of pre-scout, as Manitoba always goes for the slide on a two-on-one. Elie yelled to Smith to shoot and he found twine.

Cory Kane laced up the evening with a backhanded rebound goal and the 6-1 final.

Banged up, Texas will take two days off and have a harder practice on Tuesday. They do not play again until Friday night in Stockton.

Tonight's lines:
McKenzie-Dickinson-Stransky
Hulak-Dowling-Ranford
Elie-Smith-Troock
Molin-Kane-Ully

Backman-Bystrom
Johns-Lindell
Evans-Mangene

Lagace

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Faksa, Ritchie (call up)
Rallo, Shore, Morin, Honka, Blacker (injury)

Stephen Johns wore the captain's C in Morin's absence.

Tonight's attendance was 5,452.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Manitoba - March 5 2016

Comments

  1. A few questions: any word on when Morin and Rallo will be back? Why was the team in green tonight? What does the attendance number represent - tickets sold or people who came through the gate? (Tried to convince my seat mate tonight it was tickets sold, but he insisted it was bodies in seats.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Morin and Rallo, no word.
      Team was in green because San Antonio wore dark specialty jerseys last night against Manitoba. Manitoba brought their home whites and Texas wore greens so they didn't have to bring both jerseys. Charles is correct. It's tickets sold.

      Delete
  2. It's based on tickets sold and not tickets scanned.

    ReplyDelete

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