Texas Stars Defy Expectations Yet Again, Force Game Seven In Toronto

The Texas Stars entered Tuesday night with their backs against the wall in the Calder Cup Final. They were in need of a win and had to win out in order to win the championship. And on Tuesday night, they found a way to even the odds.

While the Dallas Stars are fervently preparing for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, their AHL counterpart is chugging right along.

On Thursday night, the Stanley Cup Final ended, leaving the AHL as the sole professional hockey league still in play. The Calder Cup Finals started on June 2 and plotted the two conference champions against each other.

The Toronto Marlies, who owned the best regular season record in the AHL, championed in the East. But in the West, the Texas Stars embraced the underdog role and surpassed the odds to win the conference.

It had been one crazy ride for Texas up to the beginning of the finals. From a plethora of overtime games played to some impressive upsets, the Stars rode an 11-4 record to the championship round. The team may not have been a typical AHL group on paper, but they found a way to make things work in their push. Texas received help from all throughout their lineup in the first three rounds and never had a threatening issue with any opponent.

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But upon arriving at the Calder Cup Finals, they were met with yet another seemingly insurmountable task. The Marlies, who owned the best record in the AHL in the 2017-18 regular season, had won the Eastern Conference and were riding a nine-game playoff win streak. Toronto is a younger and faster squad and looked to be the clear favorite, leaving Texas to be an underdog yet again.

The first few games provided another batch of unreal and entertaining hockey. Texas dropped a 6-5 heartbreaker in game one after taking multiple leads through the contest. But the Stars rallied back in game two with a 2-1 win on the road.

Things didn’t go incredibly well for the Stars in their three-game homestand as they went 1-2. And after a blowout going the wrong way for Texas in game five, it looked as though the clock had finally struck midnight on the Stars’ magical run.

Texas traveled back to Toronto for game six on Tuesday night in hopes of securing a victory and forcing a game seven for all of the marbles. They definitely got what they were looking for.

The Texas Stars found a way to defy the odds once again and pull off a big 5-2 victory on Tuesday. Being backed into a corner is never fun, but this Stars team and the players always seem to find a way to claw out of it.

The game started out in a 0-0 tie through the first period before Texas rattled off three unanswered goals in the second to take a commanding lead. Both teams tacked on two goals in the third period to reach what would become the final score. Colin Markison, Austin Fyten, Sheldon Dries, Curtis McKenzie, and Travis Morin all scored for Texas.

Game six with the odds against you in front an opposing sold out crowd isn’t an ideal place to be when your playoff lives are on the line. And yet, the Stars made it look easy. In fact, the stat sheet will likely show you that the Marlies should have won this game. They had 45 shots compared to the Stars’ 24 and had four power play opportunities, though they didn’t capitalize on any of them.

But the Texas Stars once again received critical depth scoring and lights-out goaltending from Mike McKenna. In fact, McKenna had an incredible bounce back effort on Tuesday, stopping 43 of 45. This came a few days after McKenna was pulled out of game five for a subpar effort through the first two periods. He’s been a prime catalyst in the team’s championship run and kept hope alive for the Stars.

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And now, we have the two greatest words in professional sports: game seven. The final and championship deciding game of the AHL season will take place on Thursday night in Toronto. Does Texas have just a little more magic left in the tank? We’ll find out soon.

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