Texas Stars Drop Fifth Straight in 4-1 Defeat in Stockton

The Texas Stars dropped their fifth straight game this afternoon in California, putting them below .500 once again this season. With 24 games remaining, the Stars still need 80 total points to meet the current playoff line, now shared by Bakersfield and Tucson. That gives them a record goal of 14-9-1 from here on out.

Here's the release:
Goaltender David Rittich and the Stockton Heat put the clamps on the Texas Stars power play to hand the Stars a 4-1 loss on Sunday night in front of 4,579 in attendance at Stockton Arena.

Rittich stopped 27 of 28 shots in net for the Heat (21-22-4-1) and helped hold the Stars (24-25-1-2) scoreless on seven power play opportunities in the game. Ethan Werek was the lone goal-scorer for Stars with his sixth of the season. Justin Peters suffered the loss stopping 25 of 28 shots for Texas.

Texas continues their season-long road trip on Tuesday at Bakersfield at 9 p.m. CST.

The Stars opened up the game on a first-period flurry, and drew two power plays, but Rittich weathered the storm for Stockton's Daniel Pribyl to begin the game's scoring with his fifth of the season off a Texas turnover at 7:45 of the first.

Werek knotted the score at 4:37 of the second from Jason Dickinson's centering pass, but Mark Jankowski responded just over a minute later for the Heat to regain the 2-1 lead on a rebound chance.

In the third, Hunter Smith tipped home Linden Vey's whiffed shot attempt from the slot at 6:55. Garnet Hathaway added an empty-net power play goal for the Heat with a minute to play.

Stockton finished 1-for-6 on the power play in the game.

Texas' Dustin Stevenson also tallied an assist on Werek's goal.

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Elie (call up)
Gurianov (lower body injury, day-to-day)
Mangene (suspension)
Herbert, Backman (scratch)

Tonight's attendance was 4,579.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Stockton - February 26 2017

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