Hughes Muscles the Stars to Victory in Double Overtime, Completing an Unbelievable Third-Period Comeback
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| (Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars) |
Cameron Hughes scored the series-winning double overtime goal as the Stars knocked the Griffins out of the Calder Cup Playoffs with a final score of 5-4 after a thrilling third-period, three-goal comeback.
Hughes earned a Gordie Howe hat trick by scoring two goals, an assist and getting in a momentum-shifting fight that jumpstarted the Stars' comeback in the third. Hughes was undoubtedly the Stars' biggest difference-maker, earning the game's first star.
Magnus Hellberg came in relief for Remi Poirier to start the third period. He finished the game, saving 18 of 18 shots and earning the win. “We didn't have much wiggle room. He had to shut the door,” Coach Graham said. “And he did. So, huge credit for him. You're sitting on the bench, you're tight. You haven't played the series yet. To come in, in the fashion he did, and allow us to get going. He made a couple of timely saves that for sure influenced our momentum and our confidence.”
The Stars started the game strong with the lion's share of the shots on goal, and eventually Kole Lind scored the first goal just three and a half minutes into the contest. The Griffins quickly responded with their own tally just over midway through the frame. Amadeus Lombardi outworked Luke Krys to win a puck below the Stars' net and centered the puck to Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, who wristed the puck home for the Griffins.
The Stars responded with a few scoring chances to close the period. The best was a breakaway for their leading scorer, Matěj Blümel, but Sebastian Cossa made a stupendous save to deny him. That was one of many for the Grand Rapids netminder.
The Griffins dominated the second period. They scored three goals in the frame, starting in the first minute, when Nate Danielson collected a rebound and put it past Poirier. Grand Rapids’ third of the game came from a wicked wrister from Dominik Shine after a neutral zone turnover by the Stars. Amadeus Lombardi deposited the fourth goal for the Griffins and the third of the period after he deked out Poirier and slid it past him.
The Griffins outshot the Stars 14-9 in the 2nd and were physically dominant. Lots of hard-hitting and after-whistle scrums that Grand Rapids typically got the better of.
Texas punched back, literally, in the third. A scrum around Cossa resulted in two pairs of players going down hard. A few feet away from the main kerfuffle, Cameron Hughes picked a fight with Nate Danielson. Hughes got several solid licks; his best punch was to the side of Danielson’s head as he went down to the ice. Hughes threw his arms into the air, signaling for the arena to make noise on his way to the box. Of course, the Stars faithful listened, roaring louder than they had all night.
“... Our fans are incredible,” Graham said. “Double OT, it's getting late in the evening; the towels are still being waved. The support never wavered. We fed off their energy when there probably wasn't much left in the tank for either team, but we fed off their energy, and we appreciate them.”
The Stars used that newfound energy, and three minutes later, Blümel scored on the wide-open net after Cossa misplayed the puck behind his cage. That blunder from Cossa came after some incredible saves, including a breakaway for Blümel and an insane glove save on Lind in the second period.
Midway through the final frame, none other than Hughes' dance partner, Danielson, took a slashing penalty, putting Texas on the power play. After a well-called timeout from the Stars' bench, Hughes scored from the top of the Griffins’ crease to bring the deficit down to one.
Less than two minutes later, Kyle Capobianco broke the ankles of the Griffins’ defender at the point and got a shot off on Cossa. The puck trickled off of the netminder’s torso and fell in the crease where Trey Taylor jammed in the game-tying goal, blowing the roof off the H-E-B Center. The goal was Taylor’s first in his professional career.
“You can't guarantee you're going to come back,” Graham said. “But we wanted to get back to our identity in the third, and I thought we did a much better job of playing on our toes and forcing over time.”
Both teams had quality chances in the first overtime, but the goalies stole the show. Hellberg, who came into the game at the start of the third period, stopped a barrage of point shots from Grand Rapids while looking through traffic. Cossa stopped a couple of quick shots from Hughes, who was all alone at the top of the crease. The first overtime ended, but the game continued.
Halfway through the second overtime period, Hughes received the puck at the top of the Griffins' crease and dove while shooting the puck off his backhand, which snuck under the pad of Cossa for the game-winning, series-clinching goal.
“[Hryckowian], he chipped it in, out-battled the defenseman, made a great play. And then tried to make a little backhand move. I think I tried to go upstairs, and I think it went under his leg, but just unreal, unreal game. So fun.”
With the victory, the Stars will move on to the Division Final against the winner of the Milwaukee vs. Rockford series.
Tonight’s lines
Blümel-Hryckowian-McKenzie
Hughes-Hyry-Lind
Pettersen-Becker-Wheatcroft
Seminoff-Scott-Romano
Capobianco-Krys
Taylor-Karow
Looft-Bergsland
Poirier
Hellberg
Injuries, scratches and notes
Bertucci, Ertel, Arcuri, Chisholm, Martino, Punnett, Shlaine, Hemming (scratch)
Stranges (injury)
McDonald (lower-body injury)
Tonight’s attendance was 6,778, a sellout.
Huge win - great job Stars!
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