Stars Edge Milwaukee 4-3 on Nathan Bastian Shootout Winner

(Credit: Texas Stars)

The Texas Stars continued their recent success against the Milwaukee Admirals at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, securing a 4-3 shootout victory in front of a rowdy home crowd Friday night. It marked their third consecutive win over Milwaukee, dating back to the mid-December sweep that helped turn around what had been a disastrous first half of the season.

Cameron Hughes paced the Stars' offense with the opening goal and a shootout tally. Arno Tiefensee turned aside 26 of 29 shots in regulation and overtime, then stopped two of three shootout attempts to earn the win. The victory came against an Admirals team that had been searching for answers since getting swept in Cedar Park three weeks ago.

The first two periods were relatively quiet, with no goals scored and few penalties called. It wasn't until the third period that Texas finally broke through.

Hughes opened the scoring with a highlight-reel, between-the-legs shot that bounced up and over Milwaukee netminder Magnus Chrona. But Milwaukee forward Jake Lucchini answered quickly, beating Tiefensee to tie the game at one.

Less than a minute later, the Admirals' Andrew Gibson was charged with a slashing penalty, and Texas capitalized when Harrison Scott scored on the power play, giving the Stars a 2-1 lead. Milwaukee answered back with a power-play goal of their own to tie the game at two.

Shortly after, the Admirals took their first lead of the night when a shot deflected off Texas defenseman Tristan Bertucci and past Tiefensee, making it 3-2 Milwaukee. But the Stars showed the kind of composure that had been missing for much of the early season, tying the game at three.

"Once it got tied up, we just had to maintain focus," said Texas Stars head coach Toby Petersen.

With just under seven minutes left in regulation, the Stars held off Milwaukee's late push, sending the game to overtime. For five minutes, both teams came close to ending it, but Tiefensee and Chrona stood tall.

The game went to a shootout. In the first round, both Milwaukee's Oasiz Wiesblatt and Texas' Cameron Hughes scored. Daniel Carr's attempt was snagged out of the air by Tiefensee, but Nathan Bastian beat Chrona to give Texas the edge. When Tiefensee stopped Zach L'Heureux's final attempt, the Stars secured the shootout victory.

The victory improves Texas to 12-15-3-1 with 28 points, keeping them in sixth place in the Central Division. More importantly, the Stars maintain their games in hand over Rockford, who currently occupy the fifth and final playoff spot. With nearly half the season remaining, Texas has clawed back into realistic playoff contention after looking lost just a month ago.

"It's a tough league," said Nathan Bastian. "This is a league where you can have a bad December, and you can have a really good January. We may have had a tough start, but I don't see any reason why we can't turn it around."

The win also continues a positive trend at home, where the Stars have now posted five victories. The H-E-B Center at Cedar Park had been a house of horrors early in the season, but recent results suggest the team is finally finding comfort on home ice.

For Milwaukee, the loss extends their struggles against Texas this season. The Admirals have now dropped three straight to the Stars and will look to regroup as they continue their road trip.

Texas faces the Admirals for game two of their final regular-season visit to Cedar Park on Sunday at 5 PM.

Tonight’s lines
Hughes-Seminoff-Bastian
Stranges-Shlaine-Lind
Martino-Scott-McDonald
Hanas-Becker-McKenzie

Taylor-Bergsland
Bertucci-Karow
Punnett-Hreschuk

Tiefensee

Injuries, scratches, and notes 
White, Chisholm, Ertel, Wheatcroft, Looft (scratch)
Tuomaala, Hyry (injury)

Tonight's attendance was 6,778, a sellout.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Milwaukee - January 3 2026