CEDAR PARK, Texas – Saturday night, the Texas Stars defeated the visiting Manitoba Moose 5-2 on the first night of Military Appreciation Weekend. The Stars wore their third installment of the red poppy themed jersey in remembrance of those who served in the First World War.
The Stars took advantage of their second power play of the night when Kole Lind, while standing in the high slot, redirected a wrist shot from Kyle Capobianco past Domenic Divincentiis, making it 1-0.
Mason Shaw tied the game 33 seconds later when he received a sly behind-the-back pass from Ben King and wrapped it around the net and past Stars goaltender Magnus Hellberg. A fight would ensue immediately after the goal.
Matej Blümel regained the lead for the Stars when Chase Wheatcroft threaded a pass through the legs of a Moose defender and Blümel tapped it past a diving DiVincentiis, making it 2-1. Another fight would ensue immediately following the goal.
Arttu Hyry added to the Stars lead when DiVincentiis came out of his net to play the puck, and Hyry intercepted the pass along the half wall and wristed it into the empty net.
The Stars would take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Stars dominated the second period out-shooting Manitoba 12-3 in the period that eventually ended with Kole Lind’s second power play goal of the night when he beat DiVincentiis glove side with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
The Stars entered the second intermission out-shooting Manitoba 26-10 and up 4-1.
Ben King cut the Texas lead to 4-2 at 15:29 in the third when he beat Hellberg, high glove side with a blistering slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle.
Emilio Pettersen ended any hope of a Moose comeback with an empty net goal with only 1:06 remaining in the third.
With the win, Hellberg became the first Stars goaltender to win his first five starts with the team.
Check out this photo Gallery from Inside The Rink’s Rick Crossman for highlights from the game.
