Stars Sweep IceHogs in Central Division Semifinals
May 3, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Texas Stars News Release
Texas Stars' Riley Damiani celebrates win
(Texas Stars, Credit: Andy Nietupski/ exas Stars)
CEDAR PARK, Texas - The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Dallas Stars, completed a three-game sweep of the Rockford IceHogs with a 4-2 victory in Game Three of the Central Division Semifinals Wednesday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
Riley Damiani tipped a shot by Ben Gleason past Arvid Soderblom to put Texas on top first 2:16 into the contest. Michal Teply evened the score 1-1 at 7:11 when his shot from the slot on a power play was initially stopped by Matt Murray before it bounced over the netminder's right shoulder and in. The Stars reclaimed the lead at 12:01 when Nick Caamano crashed the net, where he capitalized on a second-chance rebound for his second goal of the series.
Texas maintained its grasp of the 2-1 lead over Rockford throughout the second period. Murray was stout between the pipes in the middle period and stopped all of the shots thrown his way as the IceHogs outshot the Stars 7-2 to take a 16-13 advantage.
Oskari Laaksonen made it a 3-1 game 4:57 into the final period when he scooped up his initial shot that hit Riley Barber in the slot before shoveling the insurance marker past Soderblom for his first goal of the postseason. Rhett Gardner then made it 4-1 in favor of the Stars when he rung a shot off the right post and in at the 17:14 mark. Lukas Reichel scored the last goal for Rockford with 16 seconds to spare, but Texas ultimately skated away with a 4-2 victory that completed a three-game sweep in the division semifinal.
In goal for the Stars, Murray improved to 3-0 in the 2023 postseason after he turned aside 28 of the 30 shots he saw. Soderblom came down with the season-ending loss for Rockford after he surrendered four goals on 26 shots against.
With tonight's victory, the Stars have advanced to the Central Division Finals where they will take on the winner of Milwaukee and Manitoba. Dates and times for the five-game series are to be determined and announced at a later date.
GAME INFO SHOTS GOALTENDERS 3 STARS (UBEO BUSINESS SERVICES)
Boxscore TEX: 26 W: Murray (TEX) 1: Gardner (TEX)
Photo RFD: 29 L: Soderblom (RFD) 2: Murray (TEX)
Video 3: Caamano (TEX)
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 Texas Stars' Riley Damiani celebrates win (Andy Nietupski/ exas Stars) |
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