Four goals in the final frame doom Stars' victory plans
Putting it simply, Coach Laxdal had the assessment of the Stars' Saturday night effort.
"If you go back and reflect on the game, I think they outplayed us start to finish. I don't think we deserved to win tonight."
It's not like Texas didn't have chances for the victory. Up 3-2 after two periods, Texas dropped a winnable game by allowing four goals in the final frame.
"We're up going into the third period and we have to find a way to close it out," said Kevin Henderson. "This is a team we need to catch. Being at home, we have to find a way to win."
Texas and Rockford swapped goals in the second period with each club getting an even strength and a power play tally. The Stars saw Justin Dowling score on a one-timer and Kevin Henderson tally his second of the year to make it 2-2 late in the frame.
Travis Morin found himself uncovered in the right wing circle and Gemel Smith feathered a pass over to him for the one-time bid that made it 3-2.
The Stars would start the third on two near-consecutive power plays but couldn't cash in on either.
Laxdal assessed, "They're a physical team and we aren't built to be a big heavy team. They're going to take penalties and we have to take advantage of that."
Greg Rallo and Cameron Gaunce found themselves in the box just after the stars PP and Rockford as able to take advantage of that chance. Laxdal thought the Gaunce cross-checking minor was a soft one, but it made it 5-on-3 for Rockford for 84 seconds nonetheless.
Garrett Ross scored for the Hogs to tie the game on the two-man advantage.
Then the game became The Phillip Danault Show. Coming off a Texas power play, Danault stormed down the ice with Rockford and potted his first of the night. Two minutes later, it was 5-3 thanks to Danault again. He finished the hat trick into the empty net four minutes later.
The Stars tried valiantly to get back into the game after ceding the fifth goal, pulling Campbell with over three minutes left in the frame. Campbell, who started his second game in as many nights this evening, took the loss with 35 saves on 40 shots. He didn't look great, but really this was a team failure more than it could be pinned on any one player.
Texas has a full five days off before their next game against Iowa.
Tonight's lines:
Glennie-Dowling-Smith
Hulak-Morin-Rallo
Stransky-Faille-Henderson
Ranford-Root-Mangene
Gaunce-Oleksiak
Meech-Nemeth
Honka-Valentine
Campbell
Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Jokipakka, McKenzie, Ritchie (call up)
Wrenn, Peters (scratch)
Troock. Fortunus, Faksa (injury)
Texas lost Scott Glennie after an awkward fall in the first period.
Tonight's attendance was 6,165.
AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Rockford - February 28 2015
 |
| Phillip Danault had a natural hat trick for Rockford, all in the third. (Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars) |
"If you go back and reflect on the game, I think they outplayed us start to finish. I don't think we deserved to win tonight."
It's not like Texas didn't have chances for the victory. Up 3-2 after two periods, Texas dropped a winnable game by allowing four goals in the final frame.
"We're up going into the third period and we have to find a way to close it out," said Kevin Henderson. "This is a team we need to catch. Being at home, we have to find a way to win."
Texas and Rockford swapped goals in the second period with each club getting an even strength and a power play tally. The Stars saw Justin Dowling score on a one-timer and Kevin Henderson tally his second of the year to make it 2-2 late in the frame.
Travis Morin found himself uncovered in the right wing circle and Gemel Smith feathered a pass over to him for the one-time bid that made it 3-2.
The Stars would start the third on two near-consecutive power plays but couldn't cash in on either.
Laxdal assessed, "They're a physical team and we aren't built to be a big heavy team. They're going to take penalties and we have to take advantage of that."
Greg Rallo and Cameron Gaunce found themselves in the box just after the stars PP and Rockford as able to take advantage of that chance. Laxdal thought the Gaunce cross-checking minor was a soft one, but it made it 5-on-3 for Rockford for 84 seconds nonetheless.
Garrett Ross scored for the Hogs to tie the game on the two-man advantage.
Then the game became The Phillip Danault Show. Coming off a Texas power play, Danault stormed down the ice with Rockford and potted his first of the night. Two minutes later, it was 5-3 thanks to Danault again. He finished the hat trick into the empty net four minutes later.
The Stars tried valiantly to get back into the game after ceding the fifth goal, pulling Campbell with over three minutes left in the frame. Campbell, who started his second game in as many nights this evening, took the loss with 35 saves on 40 shots. He didn't look great, but really this was a team failure more than it could be pinned on any one player.
Texas has a full five days off before their next game against Iowa.
Tonight's lines:
Glennie-Dowling-Smith
Hulak-Morin-Rallo
Stransky-Faille-Henderson
Ranford-Root-Mangene
Gaunce-Oleksiak
Meech-Nemeth
Honka-Valentine
Campbell
Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Jokipakka, McKenzie, Ritchie (call up)
Wrenn, Peters (scratch)
Troock. Fortunus, Faksa (injury)
Texas lost Scott Glennie after an awkward fall in the first period.
Tonight's attendance was 6,165.
AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Rockford - February 28 2015
Laxdal confuses me. He has big players, uses big players, encourages a more physical game, then scratches those big players and says the team isn't big and heavy. I honestly just don't get it. I know Dallas likes him because he develops bottom 6 players for them, players who should be able to grind it out and take big hits. I haven't seen too much of that recently.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow will be exciting. Hopefully Schlemko clears waivers and we can get some defense.
Interesting/scary fact: if you remove the loser point from all the teams in the West, Texas (#7) becomes #10, and the Flames (#10) become #7. We aren't in the playoff picture because we're winning games (25 out of 56), we're there because we lose late. This isn't how champions win. I'm not even talking about last year's team, I'm talking about now. The way to win is not by delaying defeat, but by destroying the other team and being smart about it. Smart about which penalties to take and which to let go. Smart about where your partner is and where you should be. Smart about when to shoot the puck at the net.
Dallas may like Laxdal, but I don't think he's doing anything for their development. I'll cheer for the players all game long, but I can't say the same for the coaches, Except for Karl Taylor's home PP and away PK, they've been doing exceptionally well.
The Stars were not great, especially in the 2nd, but that is not why they lost. They lost because of their goalie. Campbell is not-ready-for-prime-time. He was so out of position so many times that people in our section started going ballistic on him. At one point he chased a puck almost over to the side glass just to stop it during a power play. When they scored the fifth goal, he had only stopped 16 of 21 shots on goal. Honestly, I think when he let up those last two, especially the one that scored after he flopped face down completely outside the right side of the goalie paint and couldn't get up in time -- that is what is sucking the life out of the team in the 3rd. They work and work to regain the lead, give him a cushion, and he blows easy saves or puts himself totally out of position. You could see it on the faces of the guys on the line. All I can say is that i hope five more days off is all Jussi needs to get well, because we *really* need him. We could have pulled within two of San Antonio last night. This was not a game we lost, but a game we gave away.
ReplyDeleteLaxdal doesn't help his case much but this club has bigger issues, Laxdal might not be a bad Head Coach. Laxdal May be a Good head Coach, Laxdal just doesn't appear to be a good enough head Coach.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this earlier in the season and I'll go back to it. The team simply isn't built well. There isn't enough skill to be a skilled team, there isn't enough muscle to be a physical team, there isn't enough experience to be a savvy team.
I'm gonna be beating a dead horse here but (as I said months ago) send Campbell down (and keep him down). There is a saying in sports about I would rather lose with one guy (as opposed to another). I would now and for the past couple of months rather lose with another Goalie we are looking at from the ECHL then be playing Campbell. I don't want to give up on Campbell. Campbell could have a future with the Stars, but as of now he clearly isn't the answer.
People applauded the sale of the Stars to Northland Properties and I warned them be careful what you wish for. Now we sit under the watchful eye of Northland Properties with a roster basically decimated and they make no moves The team across the ice from the Stars last night saw moves that included Spencer Abbot, T.J. Brennen and Klas Dahlbeck over the last week and Dallas appears to be happy with what they have. The salt in the wounds are these moves within (The Stars) the organization should of been foreseen in large part. They recalled a goalie that was struggling and had a 3-10-4 record instead of being a little more creative and a little less lazy in finding a fix for the problem. Dallas is just a poor organizational that doesn't do the little things to win. At least with the Hicks we were in the front seat of a pimped out compact car with a bad ass stereo and spinners. Now we are stuck holding the door open for the big club as they get into their stretch limo as they drive it off to Missing the Play Off Ville again.
On the bright side if we get the eight seed we might catch Oklahoma City, which we have done well against and it would be fun to send them off with a playoff elimination.