Wild Take 6-2 Victory, Dominate Stars for Second Night in a Row

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

For the second night in a row, it was hard to tell which team was the Central Division leader and who was the team in last place.

Taking control of the game early, the Iowa Wild never peered in their rearview mirror, shelling the Texas Stars in a thrashing 6-2 victory Wednesday Night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

“Obviously we weren’t good for two days here,” Texas head coach Neil Graham said. “[We] never really were able to find our footing in the way that's really brought us a lot of successes here… and full credit to their team, they came in and they did a good job in really, every facet of the game.”

It was apparent early on the Stars were in for another tough battle. After winning the opening face off against newly-signed Harrison Scott, who was making his professional debut, Iowa assertively found the back of the net just nine seconds into the game for their first goal of the night. The tally set a franchise record for fastest goal against.

Firing their second shot of the night, it had appeared that Iowa notched its second goal but the shot was immediately waved off by the on-ice official for goaltender interference. Making up for it on their next shift, Wild forward Travis Boyd decisively earned their second goal finding the net just above Poirier's shoulder.

Despite laying claim to the worst power play and penalty kill units in the AHL, Iowa was able to figure out the high-powered Stars, putting a power play goal on the board to go up 3-0 in the opening period.

Iowa put another puck in the net to open the second. Despite the tall task, forward Jack Becker found the twine to build some steam for Texas finding his second goal of the weekend after connecting with another newly-signed forward Artem Shlaine, who earned his first professional point.

Scott struggled in his professional debut, earning himself a minus-4. Controlling the puck near the penalty box, the former Maine product was outmuscled by Iowa forward Hunter Haight who created the turnover before sailing up the Stars zone to put their fifth goal on the board. After the score, Mangus Hellberg finished the rest of the game in place of Poirer in net.

“[Remi Poirier]'s a competitive person, and I just wanted to make sure I went over and chatted with him,” Graham said.

Stars forward Emilio Pettersen's late goal after a faceoff win marched Texas closer to the Wild’s seemingly insurmountable lead. Still unrelenting, the Stars attempted to make the game’s final score closer, pulling Hellberg in the final minutes.

Preserving Iowa’s four goal lead, Boyd rocketed a shot across the ice for his second goal of the night into the empty net, sealing the Wild’s victory.

“This group cares a lot about each other, we're a proud group,” Graham said. “We weren't happy with how either game went, and we're never gonna roll over and die or quit, more importantly on each other.”

Texas will face the Milwaukee Admirals for the final time in the regular season this weekend with the first game on Saturday at 7 PM at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

Tonight’s lines
Blümel-Hryckowian-McKenzie
Hughes-Scott-Lind
Shlaine-Hyry-Romano
Pettersen-Becker-Wheatcroft

Capobianco-Krys
Looft-Petrovic
Karow-Bergsland

Poirier


Injuries, scratches and notes
White, Seminoff (warm-up)
Taylor, Kyrou, Ertel, Chisholm, Martino (scratched)
Stranges (injured)
McDonald (Injured, lower body)

Tonight's attendance was 5,414

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Iowa - April 2 2025