Stars Start Slow but Finish Strong in 8-4 Win over Iowa

 

(Credit: Tim Garland/Iowa Wild)

 

The Texas Stars have looked like one of the best teams in the league when playing in Cedar Park but have not been able to say the same outside of the state of Texas so far this season. That looked to be the case once again Saturday night after falling into a 3-1 hole against the Iowa Wild before kicking into gear and dominating their way to a 8-4 win at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Antonio Stranges recorded three points on the night bringing his total to seven in his last four games, while Kole Lind and Cameron Hughes each potted a pair of goals.

The win brought Texas to 3-3-0 on the road and was their first win away from the H-E-B Center since Oct. 20th in Tucson, Arizona. Six different Stars found the back of the net in the win as Texas finished the night going 4-for-8 on the power play.

Iowa native Luke Toporowski opened the scoring for the Wild at 12:06 of the first period after a turnover in the neutral zone quickly went the other way on an odd man break. Toporowski flew into the zone and found a clear shooting lane on the left wing side and fired it over the shoulder of Stars goaltender Remi Poirier to make it 1-0.

The Wild doubled their lead at 16:51 when former Star Devin Shore poked in a rebound in front of the net that trickled past Poirier. Despite Stars defenseman Micheal Karow making a block on the initial shot, the Wild were quickly able to outnumber Texas in front of the net and cash in.

Lind got the Stars on the board one minute into the second period after firing a one timer past Iowa goaltender Jesper Wallstedt off an excellent cross-ice pass from Stranges. The Wild were able to answer back 30 seconds later, though, when Toporowski collected his second goal of the night off of a rebound.

Texas got back to work and controlled the majority of the second period as they erased the two goal deficit.

Hughes made it 3-2 while on the power play when he collected a loose puck in front of the net that he tucked in back door at 7:20. Stranges leveled the game for the Stars while on their third power play of the second period after he slithered past the Wild defense and found a clear shooting lane on Wallstedt.

Iowa briefly regained their advantage on the power play just 25 seconds into the third period when Hunter Haight fired one past Poirier to make it 4-3.

It was the last time the Wild would make some noise as the Stars proceeded to score four unanswered goals to close out a dominant third period. Lind started the comeback with an authoritative point shot that sizzled past Wallstedt to make it 4-4 at 9:35 of the third period, Hughes then tipped his second goal of the night into the net to make it just 27 seconds later to make it 5-4.

The Stars never looked back as Emilio Pettersen, Kyle Capobianco, and Matěj Blümel added three more goals to cap off the eight goal barrage.

Texas will look to carry that momentum into Rockford, Illinois, Tuesday night.

Tonight’s Lines
Stranges-Hryckowian-Lind
Wheatcroft-Hyry-Blümel
Pettersen-Hughes-McKenzie
Seminoff-Becker-Romano

Capobianco-Petrovic
Bichsel-Kyrou
Karow-Krys

Poirier

Injuries, scratches and notes
White, Arcuri, McDonald, Looft (scratch)

Tonight’s attendance was 8,930.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Iowa - November 16 2024