Back Scores Twice in Texas' 7-5 Loss in San Jose

Nov 7, 2021

SAN JOSE, California – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell 7-5 in a close battle with the San Jose Barracuda on Sunday afternoon. 

In the first period, San Jose opened the scoring when the Stars turned the puck over in their own zone and Krystof Hrabik shot one past the blocker of Jake Oettinger to make the score 1-0. Just three minutes later, Fredrik Karlstrom entered the Cuda zone and slid a pass over to Nick Caamano who found Oskar Back in the slot. Back drove to the net, deking left and right and beat San Jose goaltender, Zachary Emond to tie the score at one. Less than a minute later at 5:33, the Barracuda answered with another tally, this time from Dillion Hamaliuk. The Cuda created a 2-on-1 when Evan Weinger put a diving shot on net that Oettinger saved but Hamaliuk was there for the rebound to give San Jose the lead, again. The lead wouldn't last long for San Jose. At 8:42, Joel L'Esperance tied the game at two when he tipped a pass from Anthony Louis past Emond. San Jose was caught for a tripping penalty at 9:21 to put the Stars on their first power play of the night. Just a minute later, Ben Gleason took a shot from the top of the slot that produced a big rebound of the pads of Emond, that the Stars captain, Curtis McKenzie would put home to give the Stars the 3-2 lead. The lead would only last less than two minutes when Sasha Chmelvski scored on the power play to tie the score at three. The first period ended with a total of six goals scored, 15 shots for Texas while San Jose had 13 shots on net.

In the second period, the scoring was much lighter. At 5:44, Anthony Louis entered the zone and sauced a perfect pass across two Barracuda defensemen that met the stick of Riley Tufte. Tufte deked left then moved to his backhand to beat Emond and collect his fifth goal of the season. The Stars killed three penalties in the second period, two of those penalties were for tripping.

In the final frame, Andreas Borgman took an early penalty for cross-checking that sent the Barracuda to the power play for the sixth time. Joachim Blichfeld recieved the pass from Jayden Halbgewachs and snapped a shot from the right circle that beat Oettinger high to make the score 4-4. At 5:38, the Stars attempted to exit their own zone, but Jake McGrew intercepted the pass, skated to the right circle and took a shot that was nearly identical to the previous goal that beat Oettinger and gave San Jose the 5-4 lead. Just four minutes later, Back would score his second of the game to tie it at five. Ryan Shea skated around the net of Emond and sent a cross-ice pass that found Back for the backdoor goal. The score remained tied until L'Esperance was sent to the box for hooking which sent San Jose back to the man-advantage. Noah Gregor held the puck to the left of Oettinger when he sent a perfect cross-ice pass that went through the crease to the stick of Joel Kellman, who tapped it past Oettinger and gave the Barracuda a 6-5 lead. In the final minutes, the Stars pulled Oettinger for the extra attacker, but it backfired when Weinger scored on the empty net to make the score 7-5. The Stars had one more power play chance after that but were unable to connect before the final horn.

Emond picked up his first win in his first start, making 28 saves on 33 shots while Oettinger logged his fifth loss of the season, making 24 saves on 30 shots. The Stars finish their roadtrip with a 1-3-0-0 record. 

Photo Credit: San Jose Barracuda

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 38	W: Emond (SJ)	1: Joachim Blichfeld (SJ)
Photo	OPP: 31	L: Oettinger (TEX)	2: Dillion Hamaliuk (SJ)
Video			3: Jake McGrew (SJ)