Jack Campbell Picks Up 4-2 Victory In Texas.

The Texas Stars managed to stretch their undefeated streak to 7-games Saturday Night as they doubled up the Lake Erie Monsters 4-2. With the victory, the Stars are now 6-0-0-1 in their past 7 contests.

Neither team managed to take advantage of the game in the first period, as both sides played great hockey on both ends of the ice as the game remained scoreless after twenty minutes. The Stars had a slight advantage in shots – 10-9 after one.

In the second, defensemen Carl Sneep tallied his first of the season as a Texas Star for a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the period. The Stars would strike again just over 6 minutes later, as defencemen Jamie Oleksiak picked up a pass from Taylor Vause and fired it past Monsters netminder Calvin Pickard on the powerplay for the two goal lead.

Oleksiak would strike once again on the powerplay just over three minutes later off a pass from Tomas Vincour to put the Stars ahead 3-0.

Karl Stollery finally managed to beat Stars netminder Jack Campbell on the powerplay with just under 5-minutes remaining in the second to cut the deficit to 3-1. The Monsters were ecstatic to hear the buzzer sound after 40-minutes as the team was handed 6-minor penalties in the period, along with being outshot 23-10 in the second resulting in two Texas Stars goals.

In the third, Mike Hedden would restore the 3-goal lead for the Stars as he beat Pickard for his 7^th of the year. The Monsters then replaced Pickard with Kent Patterson as Pickard allowed 4 goals on 34 shots.

Mike Sgarbossa would cut the lead in half at the 13:16 mark of the third period on the powerplay as he fired home his 17^th goal of the season. But, that was as close as the Monsters would get as they fell 4-2 to the Stars.

Patterson stopped all 7 shots he faced in relief of Pickard. Meanwhile, Campbell stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Stars in the victory.

The Monsters will have a 2-day break as they host the Milwaukee Admirals Tuesday night in Ohio. Meanwhile, the Stars continue their roadtrip with a contest against the Oklahoma City Barons on Tuesday evening.

Adam Reid

adam_mapleleafs@hotmail.com

ahlwriters@hotmail.com

Jamie Oleksiak going back to Texas Stars (Photo credit: John Snyder Jr)

Today, the Dallas Stars have sent down Jamie Oleksiak, their first round pick from 2011, to play with the Texas Stars of the AHL, who face the Oklahoma Barons tomorrow night at the Cedar Park Center. This move all come a day after the Stars lost to the Calgary Flames last night, 7-4. I believe the reason the Stars are sending down Oleksiak is so that he can develop and get more ice time.

Oleksiak will be helping the Texas Stars a lot as they are now in first place in the Western Conference with a record of 28-13-4-3 and are tops in the American Hockey League at 63 points. As Mike Heika reported on twitter, the Stars will only have six defensemen on the ice tomorrow when they face the Vancouver Canucks. I do not think the Stars will recall anyone from the AHL until they get back to Texas but Jordie Benn rumored as the top candidate.

Stars are sending Jamie Oleksiak back to Texas (AHL). Speculation is Jordie Benn coming up, but no confirmation yet.

— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) February 14, 2013

But for more on Oleksiak being sent down, here is the press release from the Dallas Stars website:

The Dallas Stars announced today that defenseman Jamie Oleksiak has been assigned to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).

Oleksiak, 20, appeared in five games with Dallas, recording one assist and averaging 15:40 time on ice. He recorded his first NHL point in last night’s contest against the Calgary Flames, notching one assist. The Toronto native is one of seven players in the League listed at 6-foot-7 or taller and became the tallest player in Dallas Stars history when he made his NHL debut on Feb. 1 against Phoenix.

Prior to being recalled by Dallas on Jan. 30, he led all Texas Stars defensemen in scoring with 23 points (3G-20A) in 43 contests. Oleksiak played in the 2013 AHL All-Star Game in Providence, R.I. where he earned the game-winning assist and a plus-3 rating in the contest.

The Dallas Stars wrap-up their three-game road trip through Western Canada on Friday, Feb. 15 against the Vancouver Canucks at 9:00 p.m. (TV: FOX Sports Southwest; Radio: 1310 The Ticket).