Stars Conclude Regular Season with Record 13th Sellout
Apr 20, 2024
CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, finished the regular season schedule with a 4-1 loss to the Manitoba Moose in a playoff preview Saturday at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park in front of a capacity crowd of 6,778 fans.
The sellout crowd was the 13th of the season for Texas, resetting a franchise record that the Stars already had broken earlier this year. Texas had a team-best 10 sellouts in 2022-23, before packing the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park 13 times during its 15th anniversary campaign, including both games this weekend.
For the second night in a row, the Stars jumped into the lead first. Mavrik Bourque found Antonio Stranges open in the high slot and Stranges ripped the shot past Thomas Milic to make it 1-0 just 4:31 into the game. The assist was Bourque’s 51st of the season and league-leading 77th point. Manitoba answered back with two goals before the first intermission. C.J. Suess snapped a shot from the right circle into the top of the net over the glove of Ben Kraws at 7:18 to tie the game, and Carson Golder put the Moose in front from the slot when Dylan Anhorn found him cutting to the net.
A scoreless second period kept the one-goal game intact heading into the final frame of the regular season as the Stars narrowly outshot the Moose 10-8 in the period. Milic had 22 saves on 23 shots through 40 minutes, while Kraws kept his team in it with 20 saves in the first two stanzas.
Brad Lambert gave Manitoba some insurance with his 21st goal of the season to make it 3-1 in the third period, and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby tipped a shot on a late Moose power play to complete the 4-1 score.
The Stars and Moose stay put to prepare for a best-of-three Central Division first round playoff series next week. All three games, if necessary, will be played at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Game One is Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. and Game Two is Thursday at 7:00 p.m. If necessary, Game Three would be Friday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at www.texasstars.com/tickets.
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: Ross Bonander
| Game Info |
Shots |
Goaltenders |
3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services) |
| Boxscore |
TEX: 29 |
W: Milic (MB) |
1: Golder (MB) |
| Photo |
MB: 33 |
L: Kraws(TEX) |
2: Suess (MB) |
| Video |
|
|
3: Stranges (TEX) |