Stars Offense on Fire: Texas Tops Henderson 6-3 to Kickoff 6 Game Road Trip

Credit: Henderson Silver Knights

The Texas Stars hung on to defeat the Henderson Silver Knights 6-3 in a high-scoring slugfest to kick off their six-game road trip. The Stars snapped the Knights' six-game winning streak and are now on a four-game winning streak of their own. The two points earned put Texas back into third in the Central Division and just four points behind the second-place Chicago Wolves. 

The Stars' offense remained hot in this one. They have reached four goals or more in six of their last eight games. This is a stunning turnaround for a team that was one of the league's worst goal-scorers to start the season, and now they're one of the hottest offenses in the entire AHL. 

The Stars’ top line was once again their best as the trio Cameron Hughes, Artem Shlaine, and Matthew Seminoff each recorded at least two points. Hughes got three thanks to his third-period empty-net goal. The league leader in assists picked up two more tonight, including a beautiful saucer to Shlaine on a go-ahead goal just 10 seconds into the second period. 

Jack Anderson made his professional debut tonight for Texas, and he is hard to miss. The 6’ 6” defenseman slotted in for Michael Karow tonight, adding some much-needed size to the Stars' back end. Other than the sporadic positional error, he was solid defensively and even hit the crossbar in the dying embers of the game. 

The Stars are absolutely rolling now, and they're doing it with a suddenly high-powered offense. If they can find a way to combine this offense and the staunch defense they displayed in the middle part of the season, they may turn into a playoff darkhorse. 

Jeremie Poirier got things started five minutes into the contest, sneaking a tricky backhand off the rush in for the Stars' first goal. Curtis McKenzie made a sweet cross-zone pass to Poirier on that play to pick up his 300th AHL assist. Poirier has been on almost a point per game pace since joining the Stars. The Poirier addition seems so much more important now that Capobianco will be staying in Dallas for the remainder of the season, and he’s been incredibly effective in the offensive zone. 

The Knights punched back with two goals of their own and put the Stars on the back foot for most of the remainder of the first period. Their first tally was on the power play after a suspect hooking call on Kole Lind in the offensive zone. The Knights made a quick pass from behind the net into the slot and easily one-timed it past Remi Poirier. Their second was an accidental change-up off the rush that somehow snuck between Poirier’s legs as it slowly slid along the ice. 

Despite that slip-up, Poirier made an incredible 40 saves on the night, his third-most saves in a game this season. The Stars were absolutely floundering in the middle of the first period, and without the French Canadian, the game could’ve gotten out of hand before the Stars had a chance to get their offense rolling. Poirier is really heating up as the Stars head down the final stretch of the season. 

The Stars were outshot 17-8 in the first, but somehow found a way to finish the period tied thanks to yet another power play goal from Semonff in the final 30 seconds. Artem Shlaine partially fanned on his own shot from the slot, but the puck slid right to Seminoff, who snapped it home. That was Seminoff’s eighth power play goal of the season and his third in four games. 

Texas started the scoring just 10 seconds into the middle frame. The AHL’s leading assist man, Cameron Hughes, made a sweet cross-zone saucer pass to Shlaine. The Russian rookie made quick work of the slick setup and sniped a one-timer past the Knights' netminder. Just 30 seconds of game time separated the Stars’ second and third goals. 

The Stars were still outshot in the second period, but they did a much better job of keeping the Knights’ shots to the perimeter of the zone and started getting some more extended time in the Knights’ end. That zone time eventually led to Jack Becker tapping home a puck in the crease after a Luke Krys point shot hit traffic in front and fell at the net mouth, giving the Stars a 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission. 

The Stars had two massive penalty kills in the third period against the league's best power play unit from Henderson. Remi Poirier sparkled again, making six massive saves and maintaining the Stars’ two-goal lead. 

The Knights would not go quietly, though. Tanner Laczynski made an incredible play, knocking down a point shot and pulling it around Poirier to cut the lead to one with five minutes remaining. The Stars' defense stopped all drama, however, as they quickly deposited two empty net goals, not giving the Knights much of a chance 6-on-5. 

Texas will look to push their winning streak to five games tomorrow night as they take on Henderson once again at Lee’s Family Forum. 

Tonight’s Lines: 

Hughes-Shlaine-Seminoff

Hanas-Becker-Lind

Stranges-Scott-McKenzie

Martino-Chisholm-Pearson

Taylor-Krys

Poirier-Bertucci

Anderson-Kolyachonok

Poirier

Injuries, scratches and notes: 

McDonald, Karow, Ertel, Looft (scratch)

Wheatcroft, Tuomaala (Injured)

Tonight’s attendance was 4,757.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Henderson -  March 20th, 2026