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| (Credit: Texas Stars) |
Looking to take the weekend series and improve their standings in the Central division, the Texas Stars came away with a thrilling 5-4 victory against the Cleveland Monsters on Military Appreciation weekend at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The evening would be one for the books as Texas’ Matěj Blümel would get his 29th, 30th, and 31st goals of the season, and his first professional hat trick.
The introductory frame found the Stars trading shots and skating hard, but it would be the Monsters who would get on the board first with a goal by Jordan Dumais from the left circle.
Texas was not able to capitalize on the first penalty of the evening against Cleveland, but they continued to maintain the pressure. Running a screen in front of the Cleveland net, Chase Wheatcroft tipped in a shot from Alex Petrovic to get the Stars on the board with under three minutes left in the period. “I saw [Petrovic] just rolling through and I was trying to get a stick on it," said Wheatcroft. "And it went a good way after it hit my stick, and I was happy for it to go in.”
Texas came back after the first intermission ready to turn up the heat in what would be a fast-moving second frame. Early on, Monsters’ Hunter McKown was charged with tripping, which resulted in Blümel notching his 29th goal of the season with assists by Christian Kyrou and Justin Hryckowian.
Looking to increase their lead, Texas would light the lamp again on a fast shot by Matthew Seminoff, giving him his first goal of the season, with assists by Alex Petrovic and Justin Ertel.
Cleveland would continue to press Texas and on shot from left circle, forward Rocco Grimaldi would score with assists by Luca Del Bel Belluz and Trey Fix-Wolansky with Texas still maintaining their lead.
With the frame moving quickly, the Stars would get another power play opportunity and with under five minutes left, Blümel would get his second goal of the evening. The goal would be Blümel’s 30th goal of the season, earning him the 30 goal mark for a second consecutive season.
Texas would soon see their lead shrink as a shot by Monsters’ Drew Bavaro bounced off the crossbar and into the net behind Texas netminder Magnus Hellberg. “I think we kind of let go of gas a little bit,” said Blümel. “We let them back in the game.”
With the Stars leading 4-3 at the end of the period, some feistiness spilled over after the buzzer, resulting in Stars captain Curtis McKenzie and Monsters forward Trey Fix-Wolansky both being issued two-minute roughing penalties and 10-minute misconducts for continuing altercations.
In the final twenty of the evening, the Stars and Monsters knew that the game could go either way, and just under the halfway point in the frame, Monsters’ Max McCue would get the equalizer goal, tying the game at four and setting up what would be an exciting finish.
With only 45 seconds left in the game, Blümel, on an assist by Alex Petrovic and Cameron Hughes, would break the tie and gets his first professional hat trick on a military ballcap giveaway night. The Stars would hold off the Monsters for the remainder of the game and come away with the 5-4 win.
With this win, the Stars slide into first place over the Milwaukee Admirals. “That is our goal for the regular season," said Blümel. “We can’t let off of the gas and we gotta be at our very best every night because every point matters.”
The Stars will host the Ontario Reign at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park for a two-game series starting on Tuesday, March 18. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM.
Tonight's lines:
Blümel-Hughes-McKenzie
Wheatcroft-Hryckowian-Lind
Pettersen-Hyry-McDonald
Ertel-Becker-Seminoff
Looft-Krys
Petrovic-Kyrou
Karow-White
Hellberg
Injuries, scratches, and notes
Romano, Stranges (scratch)
Tonight's attendance was 6,778, the Stars' eleventh sellout of the season.
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