Texas Drops Fifth Straight In 5-3 Loss To Admirals

(Photo Credit: Milwaukee Admirals)

Milwaukee, WI - Texas Stars dropped their fifth straight, their longest such streak since 2019, while the Milwaukee Admirals came away with their seventh straight win in a row as the Admirals walked away with a 5-3 victory over Texas to complete a two-game series sweep in front of 8,943 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena Saturday night.

On Teddy Bear Toss night in Milwaukee, the Admirals got the evening started early. Zach L’Heureux scored the game’s first goal for the second straight night, just 13:14 into the first, sending the Teddy Bears down. After a significant delay, Texas was unable to regroup as less than two minutes later Jasper Weatherby scored again for the Admirals at 15:05 to make it 2-0 after twenty minutes of action.

Spencer Stastney added another goal to make it 3-0 Admirals at 3:29 into the second. With Texas on the power play, Stars forward Antonio Stranges brought Texas back into the game with a slapshot from the top of the right circle to make it 3-1 with 13:10 left in the second. 

The Stars made it closer when Matej Blümel whipped a one-timer off of a Logan Stankoven feed from behind the net past Admirals netminder Yaroslav Askarov to close the gap to 3-2 with 9:24 left in the second. 

As the Stars were surging, Milwaukee answered right back when thet extended the lead to 4-2. Reid Schaefer scored from Fedor Svechkov at 12:38, moments after a Stars’ turnover. 

Texas crept back in when Blümel lit the lamp for a second time less than a minute later to cut the Admirals lead to 4-3 with 6:51 left in the middle frame.

The teams skated fairly evenly throughout the third period. The Stars were simply unable to catch up with Milwaukee. Admirals’ forward Cal O’Reilly score an empty-net goal with 1:12 remaining in regulation to cap the scoring, marking a 5-3 final.

Between the pipes, Remi Poirier stopped 27 of the 31 shots he saw as he saw his record fall to 11-7-2 on the season. Askarov improved to 14-6-1 on the season after stopping 32 of the 35 shots he faced.

With the loss, Texas falls to 19-13-2-1 (41 pts.) good for second in the Central Division. With the win, Milwaukee improves their record to 24-10-1-0 (49 pts.) and extends their lead in the division over Texas to eight points.

Up next, Texas continues their road trip onto Iowa as the Stars take on the Wild in Des Moines, opening up the start of a two-game series on Monday night at Wells Fargo Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 P.M.

Tonight's Lines

Blümel-Bourque-Stankoven
Stranges-Bäck-Karlström
McKenzie-Damiani-Mastrodoanto
Berard-Seminoff-Caamano

Grushnikov-Petrovic
Pouliot-Kyrou
Karow-White

Poirier

Injuries, scratches and notes
J. Murray, Reedy (scratch)
Wheatcroft (lower body injury)
Bayreuther (out - ankle)

Tonight's attendance was 8,493.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Milwaukee - January 20 2024