The winner will go up 3-2 in the series with a chance to close-out the series on Sunday Afternoon with a chance to advance to the Calder Cup Semifinals either against the Hamilton Bulldogs or the Abbotsford Heat. Abbotsford won Game 4 last night to tie the series at 2-2 with a 4-1 win last night.
One of the big developments was another suspension for Forward Warren Peters with a controversial hit midway through the game when he was called for a 5 minute boarding major and was later tossed from the game.
Also for fans tonight, the first 5,000 fans will get a 2010 Texas Stars Playoff Poster upon arrival at the Cedar Park Center for tonight's game.
From the Texas Stars Website: www.texasstarshockey.com
Following a split of the first four contests, Chicago and Texas will suit up for a critical Game 5 in the West Division Finals tonight at the Cedar Park Center. The host Stars need a victory to avoid needing two wins back in Chicago to advance on Sunday and Tuesday. After playing back-to-back overtime games to begin the series, the teams have collected a regulation win in suburban Austin, most recently a 3-2 Stars triumph on Wednesday Night. Texas coughed up 1-0 and 2-1 leads in that contest before finally prevailing after a power-play goal by defensemen Dan Jancevski with 6:17 left to play in regulation.
It marked Jancevski's first Calder Cup Playoff Goal since June 4, 2007 when he scored in Game 3 as a member of the eventually Calder Cup Champion Hamilton Bulldogs. Rookie Travis Morin, who was second on the Stars with 21 goals during the regular season, had gone without a goal in the playoffs before scoring twice in Game 4. Morin registered seven points - all assists - in the Stars first Round Sweep over the Rockford Icehogs, but Wednesday's performance marked his first points of the West Division Finals.
Francis Wathier and former Calder Cup Champion Landon Wilson each contributed an assist for Texas; Wathier has a point in all four games in this Round (1G 4A), while Wilson shows a point in five of his last 6 outings (1G 4A).
Stars goaltender Brent Krahn bounced back from consecutive losses to stop 21 of 23 shots in the Game 4 victory.
Brett Sterling nabbed both goals for the Wolves, giving him three goals in the last two games and points in all four games in this series VS. Texas (3G 4A). Jason Krog is also on a four game scoring streak (2G 3A) for Chicago, while Defensemen Nathan Oystrick has a point in three in his last four outings (2G 2A). This is the 4th time the Wolves have been tied 2-2 in a best-of-7 series since joining the AHL in 2001-2002, and they went on to win the series in three of the four times.
Warren Peters Suspension for tonight
The American Hockey League announced today that Texas Stars Center Warren Peters has been suspended under the provisions of Rule 29.1 (Supplementary Discipline). For a Boarding Call nearly midway through the game, he was also tossed from the game as well. Peters will miss Game 5 (Tonight) of the West Division Final tonight.
In addition to Peters, Stars Defensemen Garrett Stafford will serve the final of a 3 game suspension tonight after a similar hit back in Game 2. He will return for Game 6 on Sunday Afternoon.
Series Sub-Plots
- Texas Forwards Francis Wathier and Greg Rallo, have both recorded an assist in the last 3 games.
- After totalling 8 PTS in his first five playoff games, Texas Rookie Jamie Benn has been held scoreless in the last games against the Chicago Wolves.
- In the AHL's 109 previous best-of-7 series tied at 2-2, the Team that has won Game 5 has won the series 86 times (78.9% of the time).
Boxscores and Game Stores from the series up to tonight.
4/30: Texas Stars 4 Chicago Wolves 3 (OT) (1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0)
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1007290
Game 1 Game Story: www.texasstarshockey.com/news/news/index.html?article_id=285
5/2: Texas Stars 3 Chicago Wolves 4 (2OT) (0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 0-0, 0-1)
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1007291
Game 2 Story: www.texasstarshockey.com/news/news/index.html?article_id=287
5/4: Chicago Wolves 5 Texas Stars 3 (2-2, 2-0, 1-1)
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1007292
Game 3 Story: www.texasstarshockey.com/news/news/index.html?article_id=291
5/5: Chicago Wolves 2 Texas Stars 3 (1-1, 0-0, 1-2)
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1007293
Game 4 Story: www.texasstarshockey.com/news/news/index.html?article_id=293
Other Games Tonight
Worcester Sharks VS. Manchester Monarchs (MAN. Leads Series 3-2)
Expect another defensive showdown as the Monarchs Bud Holloway scored the only goal in the Game 5 to put the Monarchs within one win of facing the Hershey Bears in the Calder Cup Semifinals.
Hershey has been off since April 29 when they beat the Albany River Rats in a 4 game sweep. Hershey beat Albany in 4 games in just 6 days to finish their series so quickly.
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