Stars Strike First but Fall 4-1 in Colorado

Nov 3, 2021

LOVELAND, Colorado – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell 4-1 to the Colorado Eagles on Wednesday night. The Stars struck first with a goal from Riley Tufte but four unanswered goals gave Colorado the series sweep.

In the first period at 10:44, Texas grabbed a 1-0 lead. The puck was free behind the Eagles net when Oskar Back picked it up and tried to float one on net. The Eagles goaltender turned that aside but a rebound landed in front of Tufte who stuffed it home to make it 1-0. Despite the one goal difference, Colorado out-shot Texas 9-6 in the first period.

The second frame started with Texas on the penalty kill. Alex Petrovic was whistled for delay of game when he sent the puck flying into the stands to give the Eagles a 5-on-3 power play for 23 seconds. Rob Hamilton converted on the man-advantage for the Eagles by hammering one past Jake Oettinger to tie the game at one. At 5:40, Nick Henry was called for slashing which sent the Stars on their second power play of the night, but they could not convert. Instead, Alex Newhook scored a short-handed goal to give Colorado the 2-1 lead. The Stars still had time left on the power play after Ty Dellandrea was shoved into the net and drew another penalty that gave Texas a 5-on-3 for 42 seconds, but the Stars were unsuccessful. After a debacle on the Stars bench, Colorado went back on the man-advantage with a few minutes left in the middle frame. Dylan Sikura blasted one past Oettinger to double the Eagles lead.

In the third period, things started to get chippy on the ice after Ben Gleason was boarded by Gabriel Fontaine. Gleason shot up to have words with Fontaine that ended with Gleason receiving a ten-minute game misconduct while Fontaine got two minutes, which sent Colorado to the power play for five minutes. Oettinger and the Stars were able to kill the penalty but shortly after, Colorado skated down in the Stars zone and snuck one past Oettinger with 2:19 left to play. The Stars finished out the rest of the game with another five minute major penalty assessed to Petrovic for fighting Eagles defenseman, Dennis Gilbert.

The Stars finished the game with just 16 shots on goal while the Eagles had 28. Oettinger was handed his fourth loss of the season, while Trent Minor picked up his first win in his first start.

Photo Credit: Colorado Eagles

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 16	W: Miner (COL)	1: Alex Newhook (COL)
Photo	OPP: 38	L: Oettinger (TEX)	2: Rob Hamilton (COL)
Video			3: Dylan Sikura (COL)