Texas rolls past Rockford 5-1, heads into playoffs with momentum

Texas did more than finish the regular season with a win. It used a 5-1 dismissal of Rockford to show exactly why this roster looks ready for the Calder Cup Playoffs: special teams that can tilt a game, young scorers who are producing at the right time, and enough depth to keep rolling after the first punch lands.

The Stars struck first on an early four-minute power play after a Rockford high-sticking penalty, and Antonio Stranges cashed in with a wrist shot from the left circle. Rockford briefly answered later in the first period when Samuel Savoie found a loose puck off a face-off and tied it at 1, but Texas controlled the game from there and never gave the IceHogs much of a chance to build momentum.

With 4:36 left in the second period, Harrison Scott changed the tone again. The rookie winger from the University of Maine raced down the left side and beat Stanislav Berezhnoy over the left shoulder for his 18th goal of the season, putting Texas back in front at the exact moment playoff games often turn. Early in the third, Jack Becker added separation on an odd-man rush finished off from a Luke Krys setup, and the Stars kept pushing until the game was out of reach.

That is the part of this result that matters most. Texas did not win with one hot line or a goalie stealing the night. It scored on the power play, generated offense at even strength and got production from multiple parts of the lineup. That is the profile a team wants in late April, especially one heading into a best-of-five Central Division Semifinal against the Chicago Wolves beginning April 28 at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

The timing makes the finish even more relevant. Texas closed the 2025-26 regular season at 35-29-4 with 76 points, good for third place in the AHL Central Division. Under the AHL’s playoff format, the top five teams in the seven-team Central Division advance, and Texas earned its place in that field without having to sweat the last night. The matchup with Chicago also comes with recent proof of concept: Texas beat the Wolves 3-1 on April 3 and 4-2 on April 4.

Stranges, a Dallas Stars draft pick in the fourth round in 2020, entered the night with 13 goals and 17 assists in 67 games. Scott finished the regular season with 17 goals and 14 assists in 71 games, and his late second-period goal pushed him to 18. That kind of contribution from younger forwards is exactly what makes Texas dangerous now.

The franchise has been here before. Texas won the Calder Cup in 2014, and the trophy remains the AHL’s measuring stick. This finale felt less like an ending than a reminder that the Stars have the pieces to chase it again.