CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, were halted from a second straight win against the Iowa Wild tonight as Hunter Jones made 36 saves and Iowa closed out a 2-1 win at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Texas is 4-3-0-0 against Iowa this year and will face the Wild two more times this week.
Texas opened the game with a firing squad. The team poured 19 shots on goal thanks to four power play opportunities in the period and limited the Wild to just a pair of shots on net. However, the Wild escaped the first period with a 1-0 lead. Louie Belpedio one-timed a shot from the left point after a faceoff win by Gabriel Dumont and slipped it past Tomas Sholl through a screen from his own defender at the hash marks. It was Belpedio’s first goal of the season and came four seconds into Iowa’s second power play of the night.
The team continued to press in the second period and it was Thomas Sholl‘s turn to respond. The netminder made 12 saves in the period including a flurry of desperation stops to keep Texas within one goal. Sholl ended the night with 21 stops in the loss.
The Wild came out in the third period and extended the lead early. Gerry Mayhew cut in as the trailer on a 3-on-2 and from the top of the hashmarks, launched a shot that past Sholl’s blocker. The goal from Mayhew came less than a minute and a half into the final period and was his fifth goal in eight games for the Wild since joining the team from Minnesota’s Taxi Squad.
Adam Mascherin set a franchise record tonight with 12 shots on goal and was a prominent figure in the Stars attempted comeback. With 11 minutes left in the game Nick Baptiste pushed the puck to Thomas Harley for a shot from the blue line and Mascherin was in front of the net for the deflection. He snuck his 11th goal of the year past Jones’ pads and brought the Stars within one goal again.
Baptiste’s assist ties a franchise record as the winger has grabbed points in 11 consecutive games with 15 points (8-7=15) earned in that stretch.
The final push was not enough for Texas as Sholl came off the ice for an extra attacker. Texas finished the night 0-for-6 on the power play while Iowa connected once on three man advantages. Jones gathered his second win of the season while Sholl was dealt his fourth consecutive defeat.
Texas and Iowa will play two more games this week, beginning with a Friday matchup on Apr. 2 at 7 p.m. for their third game in four nights.
Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski