Texas Stars Report: Feb. 26

The Texas Stars have been dealing with a lot of roster shuffling lately due to injuries and call ups to Dallas, but that hasn’t prevented them from racking up wins and points. Texas went 3-0-0-0 last week, running its winning streak to five games and its points streak to seven (6-0-0-1). The Stars are 33-13-4-4 on the season. Their 74 points and .685 points percentage are both tops in the AHL.

Wednesday February 20, Texas at Rochester: Stars 5, Americans 1

Tomas Vincour scored two goals and Jack Campbell stopped 21 of 22 shots as the Stars won, 5-1, at Rochester. Colton Sceviour, Mathieu Tousignant and Mike Hedden also scored for Texas. Tom Wandell, playing in his first game since being sent to Texas on a conditioning assignment, had an assist in the game.

Friday February 22, Texas at Lake Erie: Stars 4, Monsters 3 (SO)

The Stars rallied from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime and then won 4-3 in a shootout at Lake Erie. Jamie Oleksiak scored the game-tying goal with 1:06 left in regulation and tallied in the shootout. Wandell, who had two assists in the game, scored the shootout winner. Tomas Vincour and Francis Wathier had goals in regulation. Jack Campbell stopped 29 of 32 in regulation and overtime, and then allowed just one goal on six shootout attempts.

Saturday February 23, Texas at Lake Erie, Stars 4, Monsters 2

Oleksiak scored two power play goals for the Stars and Campbell made 27 saves as Texas defeated Lake Erie, 4-2. Hedden and Carl Sneep also scored. It was the fourth straight road win for the Stars, and gave them an 8-1-0-0 mark in their last nine away games.

The Week ahead

Tuesday February 26, Texas at Oklahoma City, 7:00 p.m.
Friday March 1, Chicago at Texas, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday March 2, Oklahoma City at Texas, 7:00 p.m.

Quotable: Stars goaltending coach Mike Valley on Jack Campbell

Here’s a quote from Dallas Stars goaltending coach Mike Valley on the recent play of Texas Stars goaltender Jack Campbell, who is 9-2-1 in his last 12 appearances with a 1.74 goals against average, .937 save percentage and two shutouts.

“With Jack it is a process. To get to the NHL and become an elite goaltender, you have to climb that step. There is no jumping those steps,” Valley said. “When you are young and newly drafted, you want to get there as quick as you can. You get to a point where you start realizing, wait a second, it doesn’t work that way. I do have to learn my lessons, I do have to have the ups and downs, I do have to continue to learn. That’s what he went through.

“The benefit that he had the first half of the season is he got to sit on the bench and watch a mature goaltender (Cristopher Nilstorp) play. The whole thing with Jack is let’s calm your game down, not only on the ice, but off the ice as well. It’s control your emotions, play under control. He’s really doing that. He’s really managing that and getting the mind frame that the only thing that matters is that next shot. That’s all that matters. Don’t think about tomorrow, it doesn’t exist. Don’t think about yesterday, it’s gone. Let’s just think about right now, and what we can do to play well.

“He has that attitude and he has really started to mature his game on the ice, and slow everything down. When I say slow down, it doesn’t mean being lethargic, it means you are not over moving on things and overreacting on things. You are letting the puck do the work, and letting your body do the work. It’s basically letting the puck come to you.

“He’s starting to really do that well, it’s working for him and he is gaining a lot of confidence. He’s in a good spot right now, he needs to continue to do that and he is progressing just the way we want him to.”

Notes

*Texas is 17-2-1-2 over its last 22 games.

*Prior to being called up to Dallas, defenseman Jamie Oleksiak had 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) over his last five games.

*Since being assigned to Texas last week, right wing Tomas Vincour has 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) in three games.

*Center Tom Wandell has 4 assists in 3 games since being assigned to Texas on a conditioning assignment.

*Texas is 7-28 (25.0%) on the power play over the last five games.

*Texas is 27-29 (93.1%) on the penalty kill over the last eight games.

Injury notes

*C Travis Morin has missed the last three games.

*RW Alex Chiasson has missed the last three games.

*D Maxime Fortunus has missed the last three games.

*D Patrik Nemeth has missed the last four games.

*D Tyler Sloan has missed the last four games.

*F Scott Glennie (finger) has missed the last 16 games.

Transactions

*2/25: RW Austin Smith assigned from Texas to Idaho

*2/25: D Carl Sneep assigned to Texas from Dallas

*2/25: D Jacob Johnston signed to ATO

*2/24: D Carl Sneep recalled to Dallas from Texas

*2/24: D Jamie Oleksiak recalled to Dallas from Texas

*2/19: D William Wrenn signed to PTO

Idaho Steelheads

The Idaho Steelheads, Dallas’ ECHL affiliate, went 1-0-0-1 over the past week. The Steelheads are 35-15-1-5 on the season, ranking second in the Mountain Division and third in the Western Conference.

Idaho traded forward Tristan King to San Francisco of the ECHL last week.

Texas Stars Statistics

*Indicates player under contract to Texas Stars. x-Indicates not currently on roster

Idaho Steelheads Statistics

Stats of Dallas players in Idaho