Iowa’s Hlavaj Shuts Down Stars

Apr 8, 2026

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, suffered a 4-0 loss to the Iowa Wild on Wednesday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. 

The first twenty minutes went by scoreless, but not without several chances by the Stars. In the final 10 seconds of the frame, Artem Shlaine threaded a pass to a cutting Luke Krys in the slot, but he couldn't lift his wrist shot over the glove of Samuel Hlavaj. 

Iowa was penalized six minutes into the second period, but found a short-handed opportunity. Hunter Haight got behind the Stars defense for a breakaway, but Remi Poirier snapped his left pad out to keep the Wild off the board. 

Texas threatened again, while on the power play, with five minutes remaining in the middle frame. Kole Lind skated down the left wing, firing a pass to a wide-open Shlaine in the slot, but Hlavaj got a piece of the one-timer. 

Haight struck for Iowa just a minute later while on the power play, as he lifted a shot from the goal line over Poirier to open the scoring. 

Caedan Bankier added to the Wild lead four minutes into the third period. The Stars couldn’t clear their defensive zone and Bankier took advantage, picking up a loose puck and snapping home his ninth goal this season. 

Iowa was rewarded with another power play three minutes later. Viking Gustafsson Nyberg found David Spacek in the left circle, Spacek’s sixth goal of the season put the Wild up 3-0. Texas pulled Poirier for an extra skater, and Gerry Mayhew potted Iowa’s fourth goal. 

Poirier allowed three goals on 28 shots in the loss, while Hlavaj stopped all 30 Texas shots in the win. 

The Stars will travel to Manitoba to begin a two-game set with the Moose on Friday at 7 p.m. Catch all the action on AHL TV on FloHockey. 

The Texas Stars are the primary development affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars. For more information, call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit TexasStars.com.

Photo Credit: Logan Foust

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 30	W: Hlavaj (IA)	1: Hlavaj (IA)
Photo	IA: 29	L: Poirier (TEX)	2: Haight (IA)
			3: Spacek (IA)