Blumel and Becker Score Twice, Stars Split with Barracuda

Mar 9, 2024

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, earned a 6-3 win over the San Jose Barracuda to split a two-game weekend series on Saturday night in Cedar Park.

 

The Stars matched a single-season franchise record by skating in front of their 10th sellout crowd of the season on Saturday as 6,778 fans packed into the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park for the series finale between Texas and San Jose.

 

Following a scoreless first period, the Stars opened the scoring 1:53 into the middle frame when Mark Rassell slid the puck through Eetu Makiniemi’s legs. Texas then took a 2-0 lead 28 seconds later at 2:21 when Matej Blumel buried a rebound initially fired on goal by Gavin Bayreuther. After Ozzy Weisblatt beat Matt Murray to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 7:28, Blumel fired in a one-timer fed to the right dot by Derrick Pouliot with 6.1 seconds left to make 3-1 Stars.

 

In the third period, Stars’ forward Jack Becker logged his first career multi-goal AHL game by scoring twice 1:31 apart at 10:55 and 12:26. Becker’s first goal of the night was snapped off the crossbar and in to make it 4-1 before he scored again by chipping one in on his backhand to make it 5-1. San Jose then responded with Nikolai Knyzhov and Scott Sabourin scoring at 14:08 and then 19:31 to cut the Stars’ lead to two, respectively. However, Fredrik Karlstrom sealed it for a 6-3 victory by firing in an empty-net goal with 17.1 seconds to spare.

 

Earning the win in goal, Murray improved to 13-11-2 on the campaign after making 27 saves on 30 shots. For the Barracuda, Makiniemi fell to 6-7-0 in the loss after surrendering five goals on 29 shots.

 

Up next, the Stars take on the Rockford IceHogs on Tuesday and Wednesday with 7:00 p.m. face-offs scheduled for both nights at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

 

Photo Credit: Ross Bonander / Texas Stars

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 30	W: Murray (TEX)	1: Becker (TEX)
Photo	SJ: 30	L: Makiniemi (SJ)	2: Blumel (TEX)
Video			3: Rassell (TEX)