Poirier Continues to Dazzle, Stars Top Wolves 3-1 for Sixth Win in the Season Series

Credit: Texas Stars

Goalie of the month, Remi Poirier, continued his domination as the Stars took down the Wolves 3-1. If the season ended today, the Wolves would be the Stars' first playoff opponent. Both squads showed playoff intensity, but it was the Stars who overcame losing their third-period lead and earned the huge two points. 

It’s gonna be repeated a few times here, but Poirier was truly exceptional tonight. “When you're in the zone, everything is a little slower,” Poirier said post-game. “The play is all slower, the puck that's coming, everything that you see is all different. So it's always a great feeling when you're in that little bubble. In the zone, I call it.”

Poirier was very clearly “in the zone” from the get-go. He was arriving at one-timer chances already square, almost as if he knew where the puck was going before it was passed. His vision and concentration were also world-class; even on awkward plays like a deflected shot that was looping over his head, he calmly stood and snagged it with his glove hand. That looks a lot easier than it is, for a goaltender whose first instinct is to drop to the butterfly.  

Artem Shlaine continued his trend of game-winning goals; not many this season have been prettier than his tally tonight, though. Fresh off an injury, the Russian hit the turbo to get on the breakaway and slide his game-winning goal five-hole. Shlaine finding a way to get it done, even without Cameron Hughes in the lineup, is supremely important for this club, and he continues to get the goals when the Stars need them most. 

This was a great playoff-style showing for Texas and a huge confidence booster against the team they’re very likely to face in the postseason. The Stars are 6-1 against these Wolves this season, and they seem to be trending in the right direction as they head into the playoffs. 

“We want to keep getting better, basically in all aspects,” head coach Toby Petersen said when asked about what the focus is on before the postseason. “Playoff winning teams share certain characteristics, certain traits, in their games, and those are the things we're going to be focused on.”

Texas started the game strong, outshooting the Wolves 8-2 in the first fifteen minutes. That segment included the Stars' first tally, a firm wrister from Harrison Scott that just snuck under the arm of the Chicago netminder. It followed several connected shifts of powerful forechecking from Texas, so the goal felt well-earned at that point. 

The Wolves made an impressive push at the end of the opening frame, forcing Poirier to make several spectacular saves to maintain the lead. They also drew a penalty that spanned the intermission, but Texas was able to kill both ends of it. 

Despite the Stars surviving the penalty, Chicago kept forcing their will on the game and dominated the second period. Texas was only able to muster one shot on goal at five-on-five, and the home side spent almost the entirety of the middle segment hemmed in their own end. Again, Poirier really was the difference here.

A bit of nastiness brewed at the end of the second as Jeremie Poirier was very clearly boarded from behind in the offensive zone. Every Star on the ice immediately rushed to his defense, all of them looking for a piece of the offending Wolf. That’s a good sign of playoff toughness for the Stars and hopefully a precursor to a very physical playoff series between these two squads. 

The Stars got into some penalty trouble in the third, not ideal when trying to maintain a one-goal lead. Chicago made them pay for it with a pretty simple cross-crease pass and one-touch deflection to tie the game at one a piece midway through the final frame. 

Texas was in full lockdown mode at that point in the game, seemingly content to try and win 1-0. That makes it tough to flip your mindset and find another goal, but the Stars got some help in the form of a four-on-four segment after some post-whistle disagreements. Jeremie Poirier was the key feature in several good looks that really woke up the Stars' offense. 

That led to Kole Lind (who was in the box for the Wolves' tying goal) chipping a lead pass for Shlaine, who blazed between the pair of Chicago defenders and on a breakaway from the blueline in, snuck the puck five-hole to retake the lead with just six minutes remaining. 

Chicago aggressively pulled their goalie with well over three minutes left in regulation, seemingly catching the Stars off guard. They got some zone time and were committed to putting traffic in front of Poirier. That ultimately never culminated in much of a scoring chance. Eventually, Scott tallied his second of the night on the empty net, giving the Stars a big win in the first game of the weekend. 

Tonight’s win, along with the Moose loss, gives the Stars some breathing room beneath them in the standings and pulls them within four of Chicago, just above them. Texas will look to shrink that down to two tomorrow night at 7 PM at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

Tonight’s Lines: 

Hughes-Shlaine-Seminoff

Hanas-Becker-Lind

Stranges-Scott-McKenzie

Ertel-Chisholm-Pearson

Taylor-Krys

Anderson-Kolyachonok

Karow-Poirier

Poirier

Injuries, scratches and notes: 

Minnetian, Kolyachonok, (scratch)

McDonald, Looft (warm-up)

Wheatcroft, Tuomaala (Injured)

Tonight’s attendance was 6,279.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Chicago -  April 3rd, 2026