Hamilton takes early lead, only to see Stars come roaring back for 4-2 Game 7 victory
Garry McKay
thespec.com
The Hamilton Bulldogs suffered probably the most disheartening loss in franchise history Wednesday night.
The Texas Stars overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the Bulldogs 4-2 at Copps Coliseum and win the AHL’s best-of-seven Western Conference final, 4-3.
They became only the second team in AHL history to win the sixth and seventh games of a series on the road.
The win puts the Stars in the Calder Cup final against the Hershey Bears.
It wasn’t so much that the Dogs lost the game that will eat at them for a long time — it was the way they lost it.
The Stars, who had been thoroughly outplayed for long stretches of the game and were outshot badly, rallied to score the final four goals of the game, including three unanswered in the third period to pull out the win and spoil one of the greatest regular seasons in Bulldogs history.
With a berth in the Calder Cup final on the line and three players —P.K. Subban, Mathieu Carle and Ben Maxwell — back in the lineup, the Dogs came out flying.
They dominated the first period, outshooting Texas 15-5, but didn’t get their first goal until there were only seconds left.
Aaron Palushaj got the puck to David Desharnais in front. His first attempt to get it to the net was blocked but Desharnais tracked down the loose puck at the side of the net and he banked one in off Matt Climie.
The Dogs continued their domination in the second, but only came out of the period leading 2-1 despite a 19-6 shots advantage.
Max Pacioretty made it 2-0 at 5:32 when he backhanded a loose puck into the net.
The Bulldogs appeared as though they would carry that lead or maybe even add to it before the break but the Stars got one back on a fluke play at 14:38.
Texas defenceman Ethan Green was carrying the puck into the Hamilton zone along the left boards and just dumped it at the net. It landed on edge about 10 feet in front of Hamilton goaltender Curtis Sanford and bounced over his glove into the net.
The Stars got the equalizer at 9:25 of the third when Mathieu Beaudoin beat a screened Sanford with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.
And Perttu Lindgren got the winner at the 14-minute mark from the back door when he knocked the puck off Hamilton defenceman Mike Vernace’s stick into the net.
Jamie Benn scored an insurance goal on a two-on-one at 18:30.
Hits and misses
Molson Cup Three Stars: 1. Perttu Lindgren, Texas. 2. P.K. Subban, Hamilton. 3. Matt Climie, Texas.
Flamboro Downs Workhorse of the Game (hardest-working Bulldog): Max Pacioretty.
Scratches: Chad Anderson, Yannick Weber, Dany Masse, Eric Neilson, Hunter Bishop, Gabriel Dumont.
Shots on goal: Hamilton 43, Texas 20.
Attendance: 5,121.
It was the type of game where you crawl into a corner hugging your knees, and rock back and forth while muttering "lucky bounce" over and over again.
But, hampered by injury most of this season and playoff run, Patches played a hell of a game. I was so happy to hear Carle back from what was a season-ending injury too. And I swear PK was on the ice for 60 minutes. Conboy, Palushaj, Maxwell (sounded pretty impressive considering the huge layoff of just being a Black Ace in MTL), Trotter, Glumac, Russell, and who can forget little David Desharnais who just seems to do everything amazing (wish I could find his faceoff stats to check, but I'd bet he'd be almost perfect).
The Dogs wanted it so bad… It was such a heartbreaking 3rd period. They just ran out of gas and could get over that ugly goal.
What a season for the Dogs though. They tied or broke so many franchise records. It's such a shame. But that's sports, eh?
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