Curtis McKenzie‘s power-play goal 10:46 into overtime lifted Texas to a 3-2 win over Rockford and a 2-0 series lead in the AHL’s Western Conference Finals.
Game 3 is Tuesday night as the series moves to Rockford.
McKenzie cleaned up the rebound of Brian Flynn‘s try to notch his fourth goal of the postseason and improve the Stars’ record to 5-1 in overtime games during the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs.
After dropping Game 1 on Friday night, the IceHogs got on the board first in Game 2 when John Hayden, left alone in front, slipped home his second goal of the playoffs at 6:09 of the opening frame.
Jason Dickinson tied it for the Stars with a shot from the right-wing faceoff dot at 2:45 of the second period, and Brent Regner‘s shot through traffic found the back of the net during a power play at 8:15 to give Texas a 2-1 lead.
Rockford pulled back even less than three minutes later when AHL playoff scoring leader Chris DiDomenico connected for his sixth goal and 14th point, a power-play marker at 11:09. The IceHogs have scored at least once with the man advantage in each of their first nine games this postseason.
Rockford successfully killed off three Stars power plays during a third period in which Texas owned a 12-4 advantage in shots, but could not overcome a tripping call on Gustav Forsling midway through OT.
Mike McKenna (9-2) made 24 saves for his sixth consecutive win, improving to 6-1 at H-E-B Center this postseason.
Collin Delia (7-2) stopped 34 shots in the loss.
Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
P2-Texas Stars vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Fri., May 18 – TEXAS 4, Rockford 2 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Sun., May 20 – TEXAS 3, Rockford 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., May 22 – Texas at Rockford, 8:00
Game 4 – Thu., May 24 – Texas at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 25 – Texas at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 28 – Rockford at Texas, 8:00
*Game 7 – Tue., May 29 – Rockford at Texas, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
