IceHogs Hang On to Defeat Stars in Rockford

Feb 23, 2024

ROCKFORD, Illinois – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, were handed a 5-3 loss by the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at the BMO Center.

 

Bryce Kindopp scored the game’s first goal at 8:18 of the opening period to put Rockford on top 1-0. Brandon Baddock set the play up by banking the puck off Texas’ net and into the slot for Kindopp, who cleaned it up and fired it past Matt Murray.

 

Antonio Stranges tied the game 6:07 into the second period when he lifted a backhanded shot over Drew Commesso on a breakaway. Then at 7:00, Mark Rassell scored in his Texas Stars’ debut by shoveling in a rebound that was swatted on goal initially by Jack Becker for his first point in a Stars uniform. On a power play at 15:46, Rem Pitlick fired a one-timer that was blocked before bouncing behind Murray to tie the game 2-2.

 

The third period saw Wyatt Kaiser beat Murray with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 5:24 to give the IceHogs a 3-2 lead. Rockford extended its lead to 4-2 at 8:40 when Anders Bjork tipped in a shot by Nolan Allan. The Stars closed the gap to 4-3 with 3:53 remaining in regulation when Matej Blumel fired in a one-timer passed across the slot by Mavrik Bourque. However, the IceHogs hung on to win 5-3 after Cole Guttman buried an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

 

Picking up the win in goal, Commesso improved to 10-12-4 after making 29 saves on 32 shots. Murray came down with the loss to fall to 11-10-2 after allowing four goals on 20 shots.

 

The Stars head back to Michigan next to cap a three-game road trip against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET at Van Andel Arena.

 

Photo Credit: Brad Repplinger / Rockford IceHogs

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 32	W: Commesso (RFD)	1: Kaiser (RFD)
Photo	RFD: 21	L: Murray (TEX)	2: Pitlick (RFD)
Video			3: Kindopp (RFD)