On Saturday, the Dallas Stars began their 2026 Stanley Cup playoff campaign with an embarrassing 6-1 loss. 195 miles south, their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, enjoyed much greater success in their second matchup against the Rockford IceHogs that same night.
Building on the momentum from Friday night’s dominating 6-1 win, the Stars closed out the 2025-26 regular season with a commanding 5-1 victory.
Shortly after puck drop, the Stars found themselves on the power play, thanks to an errant highstick. Capitalizing on the man-advantage, Stars forward Antonio Stranges opened the night’s scoring with a well-placed wrist shot over the glove of Rockford goaltender Stanislav Berezhnoy.
However, following the powerplay goal, the IceHogs controlled the remainder of the first period. Stars goaltender Rémi Poirier managed to fend off 10 of the 11 shots he faced, but the IceHogs broke through when forward Samuel Savoie corralled a loose puck and slotted it past Poirier.
Coming out of the first intermission, the IceHogs continued to dictate the pace of the game. The Stars struggled to gain the offensive zone and failed to register a shot on net for nearly 10 minutes of the second period.
Yet, Poirier kept the game equal, and the Stars recaptured the lead to end the second period. Pulling a page from earlier in the game, forward Harrison Scott targeted Berezhnoy’s gloveside and notched his 18th goal of the season. Scott was assisted by forward Matthew Seminoff and defenseman Tristan Bertucci.
“We just took care of business tonight,” Scott said. “We trusted our process, and the outcome took care of itself.”
After gaining the lead, the Stars upped the pressure and outshot the IceHogs in the third period by a margin of 15 shots. Stars forward Dylan Hryckowian padded the lead when Berezhnoy spilled a rebound in front of the net.
To put the game out of reach, Stars defenseman Luke Krys rifled a shot to make the game 4-1.
However, the night’s success did not end there. As the final minutes ticked down, tensions flared, and Stars defenseman Jack Anderson exchanged punches with IceHogs defenseman Andrew Perrott. Both earned a trip to the box as a result.
During the ensuing four-on-four play, Bertucci claimed his second point of the night with a breakaway goal to extend the lead to four.
“(The IceHogs) played a great game, like they were making it very difficult for us all over the ice,” Stars head coach Toby Petersen said. “But our guys just kind of had that. They weathered the storm there early, and then we had that ‘Won’t be denied’ attitude.”
With the win, the Stars clinched a spot to play the Chicago Wolves in the Calder Cup Central Division Semifinals. Starting next week, the Stars will begin the push for the team’s first Calder Cup trophy since the 2014 season.
