The Texas Stars made quite a bit of progress in their hunt for a playoff spot this week, winning two of their three games, and reducing their magic number to clinch a playoff spot to eight points.
On Saturday night, Texas took on the Rockford IceHogs at the Rockford MetroCentre. Stars goaltender Brent Krahn sparkled in his shutout of the Hogs, turning away 29 shots in his team’s 2-0 win. Mathieu Beaudoin and Perttu Lindgren each had a goal, and defenseman Andrew Hutchinson got a pair of helpers, assisting on each of them.
The Stars then made the quick trip on to Peoria to play the Rivermen on Sunday afternoon. Texas center Aaron Gagnon scored the second hat trick in team history, as the team went on to win 4-2. Matt Climie stopped 26 of 28 shots for the Stars, and Perttu Lindgren also had a goal in the game.
On Tuesday, the Stars faced the Admirals at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Admirals hammered Texas offensively in the first period. Milwaukee had 20 shots in the opening frame, and slipped three of them past Stars goalie Brent Krahn. It was all the offense they’d need in the game, as they held off a late Texas rally to pull out the victory, 3-2. Perttu Lindgren extended his goal-scoring streak to three games with a goal, and defenseman Dan Jancevski also scored in the defeat.
The Stars wrap up their road trip this upcoming week, with two games in Chicago tonight and Sunday sandwiching a Saturday night game in Grand Rapids this weekend. Then, Texas returns to Milwaukee on Wednesday. There’s a good chance that, between pulling points out of the four games in the coming week, and getting points from other teams losing, that the Stars could lock up a playoff spot in the coming week.
In transactional news, the Dallas Stars signed Texas’ centerman Mathieu Tousignant to an entry-level contract. The St. Etienne-de-Lauzon, Quebec native, has three goals and three assists in 37 games this season with Texas. The T-Stars also signed college forward Cody Chupp to an ATO contract. As a senior, Chupp tied for the Ferris State University team lead with 21 assists and placed third on the team in scoring with 30 points.
Past Week’s Transactions:
3/26/10 Cody Chupp, F – signed to ATO.
