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| (Credit: Ross Bonander/Texas Stars) |
Remi Poirier stood tall, and Texas improved on nearly every mistake made in their previous game on their way to a 5-0 bounce-back win against the Roadrunners. Poirier had his best start of the season, stopping all 24 shots and earning his first shutout of the year.
“He had great pop,” head coach Neil Graham said. “He was early on shots. He was square to the puck. [Poirier] has had a lot of success here. And you look at his first two years. He won a lot of big games for us. He's won playoff games for us, playoff series for us. It was only a matter of time.”
Texas fans sang Poirier’s praises after a spectacular set of saves late in the Stars’ second penalty kill. A sprawling Poirier found a way to make two massive stops on what appeared to be wide-open chances for the Roadrunners. This led the Cedar Park faithful to chant “Remi! Remi! Remi!” as play continued down the other end of the ice.
These chants were heard again as the final buzzer rang in the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, cementing the shutout. “He was smiling ear to ear after the game,” defenseman Gavin White said. “...He's been grinding in practice, and it's awesome to see him get a win”
The Stars' physically largest line, Justin Ertel, Jack Becker and Kyle McDonald, made their presence known in a big way tonight. They scored a combined four points and pushed the physicality of the game. Becker also got in a scrap late in the first period. It was a great response after the team was physically dominated in their previous matchup.
“They were physical all night,” Graham said when asked about the Ertel, Becker, McDonald line. “The reward is getting some contributions on the score sheet. But besides that, they were moving the needle in a positive direction. And, you know, it's awesome to see guys that work that hard get rewarded as well.”
On Friday, turnovers cost the Stars three goals against on the way to a 6-3 loss. Coach Graham was much more pleased with the Stars' play with the puck tonight. “We know what we did. It went right in the back of our net. But let's not dwell on it….They're physical and they're gonna rush you. So manage the puck cleaner and harder, and let's execute as a group. And we did that way better. And for 60 minutes, we really snapped it around.”
White scored the first goal of his AHL career and earned an assist in tonight's tilt. Both points were scored on a stellar Texas Stars power play that went 3-for-6 on the night. “Just keeping it simple,” White said when asked about the key to the Stars’ power play success. “There's new pieces in [such as] myself [and] few guys in different positions that are not normally in, and you know, just getting pucks to net.”
Texas started this game surprisingly slowly, getting outshot 5-0 in the first five minutes. Following the first media timeout, Texas started pushing hard with its forecheck. This created turnovers in the neutral zone, allowing the Stars to steal the momentum of the game.
From that point on, Texas was all downhill. The captain, Curtis McKenzie, started the scoring with a tap-in goal nearly identical to his tally from Friday night. A spiffy centering pass from Chase Wheatcroft assisted the Stars' initial strike. That was followed up two minutes later by a wrister that found the five-hole from McDonald.
The Stars poured on the insurance goals in the second and third periods thanks to the power play. Emilio Pettersen deposited a power play goal from a rebound he found in the Tucson crease. Later in the period, Matěj Blümel blasted a one-timer from the half wall that beat the Tucson netminder for the Stars’ second power play goal of the game, giving them the 4-0 lead. The aforementioned third-period goal from White capped off the scoring for the night.
The Stars' defense iced the game in the third period, only allowing four shots on goal to close out the game. The Texas Stars will play again on Wednesday, January 8th in Rockford against the IceHogs.
Tonight's lines
Stranges-Hryckowian-Pettersen
Blümel-Hughes-Romano
Wheatcroft-Seminoff-McKenzie
Ertel-Becker-McDonald
Bischel-White
Looft-Krys
Karow-Kyrou
Poirier
Scratches, injuries and notes
Hyry (callup)
Petrovic, Capobianco, Lind (scratch)
Tonight’s attendance was 6,778, a sellout.
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