Attendees of the Saturday night Texas Stars game against the Chicago Wolves were treated to everything hockey has to offer.
For the first thirty minutes of the night, good looks were hard to come by — defense dominated early. This was highlighted by an electric Chicago penalty kill unit, which successfully fought off five Texas power play opportunities, including a double minor on Chicago forward Noel Gunler.
Texas looked to have a more defensively sound game, and they found it. The Stars were able to slow a Wolves offense desperate to find any momentum. Texas found momentum in the final period, scoring a trio of goals to take down Chicago 4-2 at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
“(Last night), we just weren’t any place quick enough,” head coach Toby Petersen said. “It was a big push by us to try to get more aggressive, get into bodies and try to get going the other direction as quick as we could.”
Texas and Chicago remained scoreless until Wolves forward Felix Unger Sörum netted a one-timer to land the game’s first goal with 9:52 left in the second period.
Within the next minute and a half, Wolves defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault put the Wolves up by two. Stars forward Harrison Scott responded with a goal off the skate of Chicago goalie Cayden Primeau.
Outside of a pair of goals in the second period, Chicago went scoreless down the stretch due largely to the Stars’ overall defensive performance.
“I just felt like we’re doing a good job shutting down their plays in the D zone and attacking offensively,” Scott said. “Same thing in our D zone, trying to end plays early and get on the offense.”
Faced with a one-goal deficit in the final period, Texas carried the offensive momentum into three goals from forwards Matthew Seminoff and Jack Becker and the game-sealing empty netter from Stars captain Curtis McKenzie.
“We were kind of saying in the room, ‘We get one, we’ll get three,’” Scott said. “We just needed to crack the seal, and we’ve been able to do that consistently throughout this year.”
Texas knows this Chicago team well, finishing the season having won seven of their eight head-to-head matchups in the regular season. With a likely date in the Calder Cup Playoff, Texas is confident in a playoff series with Chicago.
“We’ve kind of had their number this year,” Scott said. “We want them, we’re confident going into games against them.”
The Stars will face the Iowa Wild on April 7 at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park at 7 p.m. CT.
