Texas held on to an early three-goal first-period lead to beat the Ontario Reign 5-2 after a couple of empty net goals. The Stars moved back into first place in the Central Division with 73 points and still have three games in hand over the second-place Milwaukee Admirals. The Stars fourth line found the back of the net for the fourth consecutive game. Matthew Seminoff earned the primary assist on Jack Becker’s first period goal. “I don't really know how the puck got me,” Seminoff said. “... but found the puck in my skates and then tried to get my head up as quickly as I could. I had a little bit of space down the middle, so I was originally gonna just try to get off the wall a little bit. And Becker was teed up and calling for it. So gave me a great shot.” Seminoff spoke more after the game about his own improvement recently on the offensive side of the puck. “It's been a tough area for me this year. I went down in Idaho for a bit to get some offensive touches, and then I think when I came back, kind of just kept going with that area, trying to just stay confident, work out after practice, stuff like that. I didn't think I was playing bad or anything, just offensively. It was kind of something I was struggling with. So to see one go in the other night was really big.”
Matěj Blümel netted two goals in the contest, giving him six in the past three games. He is leading the way for the Stars offense and is tied for most goals in the entire AHL. In an interesting footnote, Blümel was slashed right before he narrowly missed an empty Ontario goal at the end of the third period. The referee called the slashing penalty and subsequently awarded Blümel the goal, his second of the night. A rarely seen rule call in the AHL.
The Stars had one of their best periods to start the game. They outshot the Reign 15-5, blocked many shots in their own end and were relentless with their forecheck. That solid play eventually led to a flurry of goals in the back half of the frame. Blümel scored his fifth goal in three games on another one-timer on the power play. Hughes made a strong play to the middle of the ice and looked poised to take a shot. Instead, he made a perfect pass to Blümel in the faceoff circle, who is quickly gaining a reputation for his incredible one-timer from that spot. Becker extended the Stars’ lead with a one-timer of his own from the slot, thanks to a strong forecheck from Seminoff and an even better pass. The final goal of the frame was from Looft, who gobbled up a rebound off the post and banged it into the wide-open cage in the final minute of the period, giving the Stars an emphatic 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. If you weren’t paying attention, you may have thought the teams traded jerseys in the first intermission. In a role reversal, the Reign outshot Texas 21-4 in the second. The Stars continually fueled Ontario’s forecheck with poor passes in their defensive zone and could not establish themselves in the Reign’s end. “It's not like guys didn't understand what was most likely going to happen,” Stars head coach Neil Graham said when asked how his team could have handled the Reign’s strong response in the second period. “When you know a team is going to come that hard, … there are ways to use aggressiveness or energy against your opponent, but we failed to execute on that part, and we can readdress it again tomorrow.” Ontario only scored two goals in the frame, though it felt like they could have scored way more, both courtesy of leading scorer Charles Hudon. His first came on a high-skill play where Hudon deked out the defender and roofed the puck under the crossbar.
The Stars finally regained momentum after a strong penalty kill toward the end of the second. Artu Hyry led the way with strong forechecking that actually gave Texas more chances even while down a man. Both teams brought their best in the third period. Texas moved out of its zone cleanly and spent the majority of the period in the Reign’s zone. As the game approached its close, Ontario's desperation began to power them through the Stars’ defense. At the end of the third period, Poirier was forced to make several spectacular saves, and Ontario even hit the post as they tried to tie the game at three. “Outstanding,” coach Graham said when asked about Poirier’s big saves at the end of the third period. “Even right down to the end there, there was a goalmouth scramble, must have been three and a half minutes or so right before they attempted to pull their goalie, and what a save and what a second effort. Without those saves we don't get an opportunity at the empty nets. So you got to tip your hat to [Poirier]; he's been excellent.” After a couple of empty-net goals, including the aforementioned awarded goal, Texas closed the game with a 5-2 victory. The Stars will face off against the Ontario Reign again on Wednesday night at seven at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Tonight’s lines Stranges-Hryckowian-Wheatcroft Blümel-Hughes-McKenzie Pettersen-Hyry-Lind Seminoff-Becker-McDonald Capobianco-Krys Looft-Petrovic Karow-Kyrou Poirier Injuries, scratches and notes White, Ertel, Romano (scratch) Tonight’s attendance was 5,963.
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