Texas Blanked by Tucson in Season Opener

Oct 4, 2019

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell to the Tucson Roadrunner 2-0 on Opening Night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Roadrunners netminder Antti Raanta, who was sent to Tucson on an NHL conditioning stint, helped power the visitor’s success.

 

Tucson converted on the game’s first power play to open scoring 3:20 into the contest. The Stars took their turn on the man advantage one minute later but ultimately came up empty. Texas faced two additional penalty kills in the frame but teamed up to hold off Tucson on the chances. In total, the Roadrunners converted on 1 of their 4 chances on the man advantage. Texas came up short in all four of their opportunities.

 

The Roadrunners extended their lead to 2-0 in the second as Jon Martin grabbed a hold of the puck on a rebounded shot that fired off the pads of Landon Bow. The forward then snuck the puck between the goaltender’s legs after it deflected off a defenseman’s skate to double the visitor’s lead. 

 

The Stars pushed for a comeback in the third, but Raanta stood strong in the Roadrunners goal. In the game’s final seconds, Riley Tufte saw the Stars best chance of the contest as he fired a blast toward the crease, but Raanta prevailed in the test to secure a shutout win in his first performance of the season with 19 saves. Raanta’s win was his first in the AHL in four seasons, playing over 110 games in the NHL since 2015.

 

Bow suffered the loss despite a solid start in goal. The Stars goaltender stopped 26-of-28 shots and stood strong through heavy pressure from the Roadrunners.

 

Texas looks for an offensive spark as they welcome in the Manitoba Moose for their second game of the weekend tomorrow night at 7 p.m. 

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Xerox Business Solutions Southwest)
Boxscore	TEX: 19	W: Antti Raanta (TUC)	1: Antti Raanta (TUC)
Photo	OPP: 28	L: Landon Bow (TEX)	2: Brayden Burke (TUC)
Video			3: Jon Martin (TUC)