Admirals shot down by Stars in Texas, 3-1

CEDAR PARK, Texas -- Goalie Mike McKenna stopped 36 shots to lead the Texas Stars to a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals Friday at HEB Center at Cedar Park.

McKenna, who shut out the Ads in Milwaukee six days earlier, allowed only Trevor Murphy’s shorthanded goal at 18:34 of the third period.

Murphy’s goal made the score 2-1 with 1:26 to play. Frederick Gaudreau and Mark McNeill recorded the assists. The goal was Murphy’s 31st career goal which tied him with Andrew Hutchinson for the most goals by a defenseman in Admirals AHL history.

Texas scored the first goal of the game at 5:43 of the second period. Gavin Bayreuther’s slap shot from the right point found its way to the back of the net for the defenseman’s fifth goal of the season.

Texas’ Denis Gurianov scored a power play goal at 8:30 of the third period to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. Gurianov tapped in a Matt Mangene pass for his 12th goal of the year.

Stars forward Brian Flynn added an empty-net power play goal at 19:01 of the third period to close the scoring.

Milwaukee goalie Anders Lindback stopped 25 of 27 shots in the loss.

Milwaukee concludes its four game road trip with a game Sat., Feb. 24 at Texas. The Admirals will return home to Panther Arena to host Rockford Fri., Mar. 2.

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