CEDAR PARK, Texas – Saturday night, the Texas Stars defeated the visiting Iowa Wild 3-2 thanks to an overtime goal from defenseman Christian Kyrou and a 39-save performance from goaltender Magnus Hellberg. The Stars hosted the first Fallout night. The night’s theme comes from a popular post-apocalyptic role-playing video game by Bethesda Game Studios and a TV series on Amazon Prime. The night featured vault suit warmup jerseys, cosplay characters roaming the concourse, and Fallout themed food stands throughout the building.
The Stars tallied the only goal in the first period when Cameron Huges, waiting at the top of the crease, deflected a centering pass from Stars captain Curtis McKenzie past Iowa goaltender Jesper Wallstedt. Despite both teams recording an even 12 shots apiece in the period, the Stars would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Iowa evened the game up 1-1 in the second period when former Texas Star Devin Shore sent a behind-the-back one-timer pass to Reese Johnson, who slapped it past the left glove of Hellberg. Iowa would outshoot the Stars 15-8 in the period, but the two teams would go into the second intermission tied 1-1.
The Stars regained the lead at 2:33 in the third period when Alex Petrovic blasted a one-timer from the top of the right circle past a screened Wallstedt, making it 2-1. Iowa would make things interesting with less than a minute remaining in the game when Ben Jones collected a loose puck from a pile-up in the crease and snuck past Hellberg, sending the game to overtime.
The Stars would win in overtime in a definitive fashion when it appeared that Matej Blümel scored on a wrist shot from the high slot that looked like it went in under the crossbar and bounced back out. At the same time, play continued. Christian Kyrou sent a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle past Wallstedt, this time leaving no doubt of the Stars’ victory.
With the win, the Stars extended their current win streak to 4 games and Hellberg extended his perfect 4-0 record.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Rick Crossman for highlights from the game.
