It only took three minutes into the first period for Iowa Wild forward Hunter Haight to slap in a close-range shot on Texas Stars goalie Rémi Poirier, and the Stars were never able to catch up, resulting in a 5-2 loss.
Sloppy defensive play in the first period and early into the second had the Stars finding themselves in a 2-0 hole early. After a dominant March that landed him AHL goaltender of the month honors, Poirier was bombarded by a flurry of Iowa shots early with no help from his teammates up front.
“Yeah, they played a tight defensive game, took more chances against, that’s something I talked about in the pre-game stuff,” Stars head coach Toby Petersen said. “And if you aren’t opportunistic and if you don’t take advantage of the chances you get, then it can be trouble.”
Texas found some momentum in the second half of the game with goals by forward Harrison Scott and defenseman Jack Anderson, his first of the season. Iowa answered right back with a goal of its own, though, with 13:08 remaining in the third and final period. That goal ultimately became the decisive dagger.
The Stars had a moment of bad luck early in the first period. With 4:03 remaining, Stars defenseman Michael Karow lined up for an open shot on Wild goalie Cal Petersen. As his stick made contact with the puck, it exploded in two, diminishing any velocity the puck may have had on its way to the goal and resulting in an easy save. While there’s no telling what would have happened if Karow’s stick didn’t break, in a game themed by moments and momentum, it could have been the difference.
Instead, the Stars will be criticized for their performance in an area in which they have performed poorly in all season — power play capitalizing, in which they rank as one of the lowest teams in the American Hockey League. While technically they overperformed their average by going 1-3 tonight, Iowa held possession for a majority of those three opportunities, not allowing the Stars to push with their advantage.
“I think yes, yes we need to shoot more. That’s clear, that’s no secret.” Petersen said, “Every team that you know that ends up losing usually ends up saying, remember a few opportunities where there’s someone over the front of you or you had a clear shot, you try to make the extra pass, and that was definitely the case tonight.”
This loss ends the Stars’ five-game home winning streak, with now only three games remaining. With their spot in the No. 2 versus No. 3 seed matchup still not locked, it will be important to reset quickly.
“Now the test for these guys as young players is to get back on the horse and erase that from your memory and get better,” Petersen said.
Texas will have that opportunity with the image of revenge tomorrow night against this same Iowa Wild team at 7 p.m. at H-E-B Center in Cedar Park.
