Bourque Buries Late, Stars Even Series in Milwaukee
May 13, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Texas Stars News Release
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin - The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Dallas Stars, evened the best-of-five series in the Calder Cup Central Division Finals with a Game Two win 5-3 over the Milwaukee Admirals Friday night at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Stars captain Curtis McKenzie opened the scoring in favor of Texas 7:23 into the contest when he chipped a backdoor feed from Matej Blumel past Yaroslav Askarov to make it 1-0.
Alexander Petrovic put the Stars up a pair 18 seconds into the second stanza when his shot from the right point sailed off the right post and in. In a similar fashion to the Stars defenseman, Marc Del Gaizo scored from the right point at 12:55 to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The third frame saw Oskar Back score his first-ever AHL playoff goal short-handed after maneuvering around Askarov and tucking it in near the right post to make it 3-1 Stars 9:13 into the period. Roland McKeown clutched up by scoring a pair of late goals with 5:32 and then 4:23 remaining in regulation to tie the game 3-3. However, Mavrik Bourque fired in his first goal of the playoffs with 2:30 to go on a power play for the eventual game-winner. The Stars leading scorer this postseason, Rhett Gardner, then ensured a 5-3 victory to even the series 1-1 when he scored an empty-net goal for his fourth goal and seventh point of the postseason.
In goal for the Stars, Matt Murray made 34 saves on 37 shots to improve to 4-1 in this year's playoffs. For the Admirals, Askarov was handed the loss after he gave up four goals on 20 of the shots he faced.
The remainder of the best-of-five series now shifts to the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park in Texas. Game Three is set for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. while Game Four is slated for Friday night with Game Five to be played Sunday night, if necessary. Tickets for Games Three and Four can be purchased by visiting TexasStars.com.
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