CEDAR PARK, Texas — The Texas Stars came out of the gate hard and never slowed down as they dominated their way to a 5-1 win over the San Diego gulls. Stars’ goaltender Jack Campbell stopped 25 of 26 shots while the Texas defense slowed down a prolific Gull’s offense, especially on the power play.
“The (defense) did a great job all night,” Campbell said. “They have a strong power play with some skilled guys. They made the saves I had to make pretty easy.”
Derek Hulak celebrates game-opening goal.
Photo courtesy of Christina Shapiro
Texas opened the scoring early in the first period when Justin Dowling made a nifty backhand pass to Derek Hulak who scored from the slot.
The Gulls tied the game when Nick Ritchie skated through the defense a slid a soft shot past Campbell. The Stars appeared to have taken a 2-1 lead but the apparent goal was disallowed despite the fact that the puck appeared to have crossed the goal line.
Early in the second period the Stars did take the lead, scoring a power play goal while having a two-man advantage. Esa Lindell took a pass from Brett Ritchie and fired it past Gulls’s goaltender Anton Khudobin.
The Stars extended their lead on a late period power play goal by Matt Mangene off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Mattias Backman and Brendan Ranford.
Third period goals by Curtis McKenzie and Justin Dowling finished off the rout.
“We played with a little bit more of a playoff mentality,” Stars’ Head Coach Derek Laxdal said. “The first game felt more like a regular season game. Tonight felt like a playoff game. Give our guys credit. It’s a pressure situation. The last thing we wanted to do was go back to San Diego down 2-0.”
The series moves to San Diego next Thursday for games three, four and five (if necessary).
Contact the writer at MItch.Cooper@prohockeynews.com
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