Texas Stars forward Antonio Stranges charges toward the goal with the clock winding down in the second period. He shoots, he scores!
As he glides toward the glass with both hands fistpumping the air, there’s only one problem: the puck entered the net one second after the buzzer had sounded, concluding the period. One second away from a 1-1 equalizer.
There would be no momentum shift waiting in the final period for the Stars, allowing three goals in the third period to the Iowa Wild, losing in a 4-0 shutout on Wednesday night.
The Stars once again struggle against an Iowa team that has had their number all season, now concluding their regular season head-to-head matchups at 2-6.
“They have willing shot blockers. They stay tight to the net.” Petersen said. “You know, they’re a veteran team. … They’ve caught fire here recently, at times, and unfortunately, we got one of their better games.”
The frustration of these repeated mistakes for the Stars shone through time and time again, fights breaking out during almost every stoppage of play, with helmets and gloves sprawled out on the ice. It was a constant revolving door to the penalty box; at one point in the third period, six players were there at the same time, between both teams.
“These struggles, they can be a silver lining. That remains to be seen … (we) obviously didn’t get the results we wanted here Tuesday and Wednesday,” Petersen said. “So it can be viewed as a good thing, as long as we come out of this (as) a better team.”
It’s hard to ignore the fact that Stars goalie Rémi Poirier seemed to be playing on an island against Iowa, with every Wild shot feeling unavoidable as it developed. Meanwhile, Iowa goalie Samuel Hlavaj was protected at all costs with every Stars attack.
Just as they did in the game, the Stars missed another opportunity at getting closer to the clinching of a No. 2 vs. No. 3 seed matchup in the playoffs. They’re still in control of their own destiny, but they’ll have to start doing something in the win column soon to avoid any chances of risk.
“Yeah, I mean, I like our team,” Petersen said. “Going on the road right now, I think it’s probably a good time to get away, and … we’ve had a lot of remote success, just going up (and) simplifying games.”
Their next opportunity to do that will be against the team chasing them, the Manitoba Moose, this Friday at 7 p.m. at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
