Stars tie series again

HAMILTON, Ontario – The Texas Stars staved off elimination with a heart-thumping 3-2 overtime win against the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum.   Aaron Gagnon scored the game-winner at the 18:32 mark of O/T to force a series-deciding game seven Wednesday night (26 May).
Gagnon converted a shot from Jamie Benn who had two assists in the game. The puck rolled behind goaltender Curtis Sanford Matt and Gagnon poked it in over the goal line. Matt Stephenson also assisted.
“It happened pretty fast,” Gagnon said. “I just kind of chopped at it and luckily it squeaked by.”
The Stars came from behind twice, while goaltender Matt Clime put on his best show of the playoffs, stopping 51 of 53 shots including 13 in the overtime period. It was the fourth overtime game of the series.
“It was definitely a big one,” Clime said. “Right now we’re all excited. We’re going to enjoy it for a bit and then get ready for game seven. I got stronger as the game went on. I’m big and aggressive and I started to come out further and further and a lot of the pucks just hit me.”
The Bulldogs took the lead when Gabriel Dumont beat Clime with three minutes left in the first period. Clime stopped the initial shot from Hunter Bishop, but couldn’t control the rebound and Dumont fired it home.
Texas tied the game at 9:04 of the second period with a rare power play goal. Travis Morin passed the puck from the right circle to the left circle to Garrett Stafford who fired the puck past Sanford who stopped 35 shots in the contest. Benn assisted as well.
Hamilton answered with a power play goal with a little over two minutes left in the period. Defenseman Shawn Belle took a nice centering pass in the slot from Brock Trotter and fired it past Clime. David Desharnais got the other assist.
The Stars tied the game at two when Scott McCulloch took a nice centering pass from Greg Rallo and beat Sanford. Morin got his second assist of the night on the play.
The win puts the Stars in position to qualify for the Calder Cup finals as a first year expansion team.   To do so, they’ll have to beat the Bulldogs once again on their home ice. Hamilton will add star rookie defenseman P K Subban and second year pro Ben Maxwell to the roster from the Montreal Canadiens who were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Philadelphia flyers.
Subban scored 18 goals and had 35 assists during the regular season for the bulldogs, and three goals and six assists in the playoffs before being called up to Montreal.
“Those guys are great players,” Gagnon said. They’re going to help their team, but our game doesn’t change. We’re going to play the exact same way and if we play our game properly, I think we can come out good.”
Contact Mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com