Henderson Silver Knights Crush Texas Stars 7-2, Snapping Four-Game Winning Streak

Twenty-four hours after Texas snapped Henderson's six-game winning streak, the Silver Knights answered with a ruthless 7-2 demolition of the Stars on Sunday in Las Vegas, ending the Stars' four-game run and reasserting themselves as the AHL's most dangerous offensive team.

The blowout completed a two-game series split that underscored just how volatile these matchups have been. On Saturday at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Texas earned a 6-3 victory behind a dominant performance from goaltender Remi Poirier, who stopped 40 shots, and a top line of Cameron Hughes, Artem Shlaine and Matthew Seminoff that each recorded at least two points. Hughes, the league leader in assists, finished with three points, including a beautiful saucer pass to Shlaine on a go-ahead goal just 10 seconds into the second period. Texas scored first for the fifth time in six games, with defenseman Jeremie Poirier lifting a backhand over Henderson goaltender Cameron Whitehead at 4:59 of the first frame. The assist came from Curtis McKenzie, whose pass from the left point marked his 300th career AHL helper.

Henderson briefly led 2-1 after Alexander Holtz wristed a shot between the legs of Poirier with 2:07 left in the opening period, but Texas took control and pushed the lead to 4-2 before Tanner Laczynski knocked home a Brandon Hickey point-shot rebound to cut it to 4-3 with 4:29 remaining. The Silver Knights pulled Cameron Whitehead for an extra attacker, but Hughes answered by hitting the empty net from his own defensive zone, and Vladislav Kolyachonok added another empty-netter with 28 seconds left.

Sunday's rematch was a different story. Henderson's offense, which has piled up 37 goals over its last six games, overwhelmed Texas and produced a lopsided 7-2 final that snapped the Stars' winning streak before it could reach five.

The surge fits a larger pattern for Henderson since the All-Star break. The Silver Knights have posted a 12-2-2 record in that stretch, including a sweep of an intense six-game road trip, and three different players scored hat tricks in a five-game span. The power play has been the clearest catalyst, rising from 13th to first in the AHL over the last two months with a 25.5 percent success rate.

Leading that charge is forward Trevor Connelly, a top Golden Knights prospect who returned from injury and is riding an 11-game point streak. "Lot of credit to the coaches and my linemates. I think they've helped a ton with that stuff," Connelly said. "I've been having so much fun here coming to the rink every day, so it's been awesome."

For Texas, the loss snapped a winning streak that had lifted the Stars back to third in the Central Division and to within four points of the second-place Chicago Wolves. The Stars' turnaround from one of the league's worst offensive teams early in the season to one of its hottest is still intact, but Sunday served notice that Henderson's own momentum, fueled by a historically productive six-game run, is not easily contained.