Stars fall to 4th place with tough 5-2 loss to Wolves

The Stars finished out their five game home stand in most disappointing fashion tonight against the West division leading Chicago Wolves. The Stars collected 2 of a possible 10 points on this home stand, only winning against Peoria last Saturday and losing all four of the other games in regulation.

Tonight's game was hard to watch. Todd Ford got the start in net with Matt Climie still feeling a bit less than 100%. In fact, the Stars signed goalie Chris Whitley of the Allen Americans to a PTO and had him ride the pine for the game just in case. Its pretty clear that the shine is off the apple on Todd Ford. After going 4-0-0-1 in January, Ford is 0-4-0-0 in February. Is it time to give Richard Bachman a cup of coffee?

The Stars came out a lot better than they did last night (minus the goal at 19 seconds last night). There was a lot of energy on the ice, especially by the Sawada-Gagnon-Peters line about halfway through the period. Peter Mannino, the Wolves netminder, would have none of it. Chicago notched the only goal of the first when Stars defenseman Hutchinson flatout passed it to Brett Sterling for his 28th of the season and first of the night.

Texas would strike next at 6:56 of the second when Scott McCulloch potted his 4th of the season on garbage duty. Andrew Hutchinson skated the puck down the left wing side into the goal area and took a shot. All three Stars forwards touched the puck in the melee that ensued before Smooch snapped it home from the slot.

From there out it was mostly Chicago's game. The Wolves put two more behind Ford in the period from Stewart and Sterling, his second of the night. Both goals were a bit of freak plays. The first was a puck that rainbowed up over Ford, who didn't see it and went in. Think this, but ten feet in the air and with about 5 people in front of the net. The 3rd goal was not technically a power play goal, but was scored before Beaudoin could jump in the play. A hard kick off the end boards rebounded out past the goal line where Sterling put it in over Ford.

Maxime Fortunus wired one to the top right corner of the net from the left wing circle with 4 minutes left in the period. At that point, the comeback seemed possible at 3-2. But remember that stat? Texas has never won when trailing after two, and Chicago has never lost when leading after two. Sadly, no change to that trend tonight.

Spencer Machacek scored the 4th of the night for the Wolves on a puck Matt Stephenson had tried to clear unsuccesfully. Krog netted the last goal of the night on garbage collection himself when Brent Sterling's drive-by attempt at the hat trick was mishandled by Ford and dropped.

Now the not so fun part. This time last week, I mentioned that the Wolves needed to watch their heels because the Aeros might be nipping at their fourth place spot. Now, it is the Stars that need to watch their heels. In one week, the standings in the West's top 4 slots have completely inverted themselves. Chicago now leads at 68, Rockford, 67; Milwaukee, 66; and Texas, 65. The Aeros won tonight in OT against the Griffins and now have 61 points. They play tomorrow at home against the same Wolves who just annihilated your Stars. I don't think they'll be winning that game, but they are a little too close for comfort. Chicago has now won 18 of 24, and Mannino is 9-0-0-0 in his last nine starts.

Now Texas heads to the Great White North for a game against North Division leader Hamilton.

Tonight's lines:
Sceviour-Morin-Rallo
McCulloch-Lindgren-Beaudoin
Sawada-Gagnon-Peters
Gazdic-Tousignant-Shelast

Fortunus-Hutchinson
Stafford-Ludwig
Jancevski-Stephenson

Ford

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Wilson and Krahn (injured)
Climie, Korostin and Neal (scratched)
Wathier (call up)

Emergency back-up, Chris Whitley, looked like he might be needed on the ice approximately two minutes into the second when Ford made an awkward save. Ford thought the puck was going to his right, but it came five hole and Ford closed the knees to save it. He stayed down for a bit and grasped the back of his right leg. Ford toughed it out and finished the game.

Despite the above lineup, Stafford and Jancevski started on defense for all three periods then switched to the above lineup after their first shift.

Game highlights from Wolves TV:



AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Chicago - February 13 2010

Comments

  1. I wouldn't mind it if they gave Bachman another call up, I didn't think he got enough of a chance in his first stint with us, the one home game he played in he let up 3 in the first, but after that he looked pretty impressive, I had the feeling he just needed to calm his nerves and get settled in. With that said, it seems to me that Dallas could afford to send us one of their many goaltenders during the Olympic break unless all 3 of them have no movement clauses, I doubt that Lehtonen would though

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  2. I felt this game came down to what you did with your opportunities. Chicago made the most of them, we didn't. Otherwise we weren't necessarily outplayed, we out-hit them, and our PK was dynamite.

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  3. I'm with Wolfgangus...I don't think we played that poorly last night (and I'm glad someone else shares that opinion, it's getting REALLY ugly on the Facebook page). We were a FAR cry better than Friday night, at least we didn't hand them the game all wrapped up and in a pretty bow. Chicago is just a good team in the middle of a really good run, and then throw Vishy at them and they're a force to be reckoned with. They ran roughshod over Houston tonight too, and while Houston isn't as good a team as Texas they're also not dealing with their defensive lines being shuffled like we are.

    As far as Dallas sending one of their goalies down to us, wouldn't that player have to clear waivers to come down, and possibly get snatched up by another team? Dallas won't want to risk what they're looking to trade.

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  4. I didn't even think of the waivers, although I don't know if Lehtonen would have enough experience to have to go on the wire, I know it depends on years in the NHL or games played, not sure of the exact numbers on either of them though.

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  5. The Stars can give him a 'conditioning' assignment much like the Thrashers did when he was in Atlanta. These assignments can last upto 14 days without incurring waiver issues.

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  6. Stars definitely looked better on Saturday than on Friday. I can't believe Chris Chelios was +26 coming in to town, and left +32. I was really impressed how much better he looked on the ice this time versus the last time Chicago came to town. Losing Vish has really hurt the Stars ability to carry the puck from the other end. Passing was better on Saturday and I think the team was much more aggressive. Was it just me, or did it seem like the Stars shortened their bench a bunch this weekend? I notice fewer shifts for the Gazdic-Tousignant-Shelast line and longer shifts for the other 3, in both games. - Rick

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  7. The first time Chicago was in town Chelios had just signed with them I think it was about 2 weeks prior, so it was to be expected that he'd look much better. I'd say he and Mannino (or possibly just the lack of Legace, he looked awful for them) are the biggest reasons that team has turned around.

    And when you're down 2 or 3 goals, your 4th line will always get much less ice time, as much as I like Gazdic, he's not exactly a guy that you can count on to put the puck in the net.

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  8. How much does it hurt us to be playing against a guy like Vishy who knows us so well? Would they have sat him down and grilled him about our key players and their strengths and weaknesses? Ford was a brick wall for the majority of the games he's played, but he crumbled against the Wolves - could it be because Vishy knew where the cracks in the wall were?

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