Moose Hang On As Stars Late Rally Falls Short
Nov 14, 2018CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, came up a goal short in the final five minutes of tonight’s game against the Manitoba Moose and ended with a 5-4 loss. The Stars were unable to tie the game with the net empty after scoring a late third period goal to close the gap with three minutes left at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
Manitoba opened the scoring in the first period but also surrendered a pair of power play opportunities in the period. The Stars red hot power play scored a goal at 9:39 of the first period as Roope Hintz deflected the puck from the right circle into the back of the net. Newly named captain Justin Dowling sent the hard pass toward Hintz while Travis Morin also earned an assist on the tying goal.
Joel L’Esperance would give the Stars the lead in the second period, scoring his second goal of the season. After a scrum on at the blue line, Adam Mascherin tipped the puck to the boards and collected it off the wall. The winger then dropped it off to L’Esperance who rifled the shot under the crossbar.
The Moose would not go away throughout the game, answering the Stars with each tally in the second period. Front lining the effort was Logan Shaw who turned in a career best three point game (2-1=3) in the win. Shaw tied the contest at 9:16 with his first of two in the game. Stars forward James Phelan retook the Stars lead 17 seconds later with his second goal of the campaign. The rookie toe-dragged the puck in the left circle and tucked the shot past Eric Comrie in goal for a 3-2 Stars advantage.
Kristian Vesalainen tied the game again at 12:10 with Shaw feeding him the puck and then Shaw tacked on the go-ahead goal four minutes later. The Moose took the lead into the break and did not relinquish it in the third. Skyler McKenzie took advantage of a turnover by the stars and redirected a back-door pass for the eventual game winning goal.
The Stars made it interesting down the stretch as Colton Hargrove cut the deficit to one with just over three minutes remaining in the game. With the net empty, the Stars push continued until the final buzzer with several chances in the final two minutes to tie the game. Comrie made a slew of saves in that time and ended the night with 26 saves.
Texas faces the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and will look to return to the win column at the H-E-B Center.
3 Stars presented by Dahill Office Technology Corporation
- Logan Shaw (MAN)
- JC Lipon (MAN)
- Roope Hintz (TEX)