(Credit: Laval Rocket) |
In their first-ever contest against Laval, the Texas Stars won 4-3 in an overtime thriller. Ty Dellandrea scored after receiving a great pass from Ben Gleason to claim the victory.
Along with Dellandrea’s OT goal, the game was full of milestones for the Stars. Anthony Louis scored the 50th goal of his AHL career, Yauheni Aksiantsiuk made his AHL debut, and the Stars claimed their first-ever win against Laval. After a rough series in Manitoba last weekend, the plethora of positives is a sight for sore eyes in Texas.
Chances were limited for both teams during the first period as Texas and Laval registered a combined nine shots. Nicholas Caamano became the first-ever Texas Stars player to score a goal against Laval after he deflected a shot from Alex Petrovic into the back of the net. About seven minutes of game time later, Louie Belpedio evened the score for Laval on the team’s second shot of the night. With 6:09 remaining in the first period, Anthony Louis was called for slashing and Laval was awarded a penalty shot. Adam Scheel saved the penalty shot attempt from Jean-Sébastien Dea and the game remained 1-1.
The second period was dominated by Anthony Louis. Early in the period, Laval turned the puck over in their defensive zone and Louis pounced on the opportunity to score his 50th career AHL goal. Later in the period, Texas was given a 5-on-3 power play opportunity and Louis converted again by one-timing a crisp pass from Riley Damiani to make it 3-1. Considering the Stars’ major issues on the power play so far this season, the 5-on-3 conversion was a much-needed boost. Laval found themselves with a number of breakaway opportunities but could not find the back of the net during the period.
The Stars fought hard to maintain their lead in the third frame, but Laval’s offensive pressure slowly became too much to handle. Laval cut the lead to 3-2 on a rebound goal from Rafaël Harvey-Pinard with 15:33 remaining in the game. The Rocket continued to put on pressure and, with 2:10 remaining, Laurent Dauphin scored to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, Laval won the opening faceoff and started with the puck in their offensive zone. After Laval failed to find the back of the net, Ben Gleason took possession of the puck and fired a strong pass down the ice to spring Ty Dellandrea on a breakaway. Dellandrea finished off the play and won the game for Texas in overtime. Here is the game-winner:
With his assist on Anthony Louis’s second goal, Riley Damiani extended his point streak to six games and also boosted his team-leading point total to 13. In addition to Texas’ strong offensive performance, Adam Scheel played well between the posts and put up a 0.914 SV% while facing 35 shots.
The Stars will try to keep their positive momentum going when they play Laval again on Friday night at 6 PM.
Tonight's lines
McKenzie-Damiani-Louis
Karlstrom-Dellandrea-Aksiantsiuk
Melnick-Gardner-Gregoire
Rosburg-Gleason
Harley-Petrovic
Shea-Cecconi
Scheel
Injuries, scratches and notes
L’Esperance, Borgman, Barteaux, Felhaber, Kawaguchi (scratch)
Martin (arm laceration)
Comeau (back, week-to-week)
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