Texas Stars Allow Six Unanswered, Drop 6-3 Contest to Monsters

After going up 3-0 in the first period, the Stars capitulated entirely in the second and third. Cleveland earned two of their goals in the second period, giving Texas a 3-2 lead after forty minutes. An early goal in the third tied it and with five minutes left, a ricochet off the boards gave Cleveland the go-ahead goal. Two more empty net goals would set the final.

Justin Peters stopped 34 of 38.

Texas now needs a 10-2-1 record from here on out in order to make the playoffs.

Here's the release:

After erasing a three-goal deficit, it was a bad bounce off the boards that gave the Cleveland Monsters their go-ahead goal en route to a 6-3 win over the Texas Stars on Saturday night in front of 14,317 in attendance at Quicken Loans Arena.

TJ Tynan's dump into the corner kicked the puck back in front and left Texas goaltender Justin Peters trapped behind the net as Ryan Craig tapped in an open-net goal with 4:53 to play after the Monsters rallied back from a 3-0 deficit.

Sonny Milano finished with a three-point game for Cleveland (2-1=3). Peters saw his career-high shutout streak come to an end at 161:17, while the Monsters snapped their scoreless drought of 149:16 in the win.

Texas (28-30-1-4) returns home on Wednesday to host the Tucson Roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. CST.

After weathering an early storm from the Monsters (28-27-3-4) in the opening minutes, the Stars took control of the game with three goals in a 12-minutes span of period one. Matej Stransky slapped a bouncing puck in the slot past Cleveland starter Anton Forsberg at 4:59 for his 20th of the season. Brandon DeFazio forced a turnover in the Monsters zone and buried a power-play goal with eight minutes to play, and Caleb Herbert snuck a wraparound attempt in the net with 2:17 left in the frame to score in his second straight game.

The Monsters responded in period two beginning with Marc-Andre Bergeron's power-play goal at 7:24. With six minutes to play in the second, Sonny Milano made it a 3-2 score during a delayed penalty call against Texas after banking a puck off the back of Peters.

In the third, Cleveland forced the game back to even on a breakaway goal by Jordan Maletta at 7:28. After Craig's tally, Milano and Zac Dalpe added empty-net goals for the Monsters to seal the win.

Peters finished 34 of 38 in net for the Stars. Forsberg stopped 19 of 22.

Texas was 1-for-3 on the power play while Cleveland was 1-for-2.

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Elie (call up)
Smith (injury)
McMurtry, Hache, Bystrom, Lagace, Stevenson (scratch)

Tonight's attendance was 14,317.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Cleveland - March 18 2017