Equalizer Eludes Stars in 4-3 Defeat to Marlies

The Texas Stars played a respectable game in their second of a weekend pair in Toronto but didn’t get the result against the Marlies, falling to a 4-3 score.

(credit: Toronto Marlies)

There are a couple of positives to take away from this one. First, the Stars struck early when Michael Mersch cashed in on a loose puck on the power play within the first five minutes of the contest. Though Pierre Engvall beat Jake Oettinger cleanly glove side less than five minutes later, the Stars came back with a John Nyberg tally to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

The other positive was that the Stars battled back from a two goal deficit in the third period. They cut the lead in half as Adam Mascherin kept the puck during a 2-on-1 rush and beat Michael Hutchinson near the seven and a half minute marker. From there, the Stars had plenty of opportunities and were pressing for that equalizer but came up short.

On the other hand, now is not the time for moral victories. When you’re losing this many games, the only victories that count are the real ones. Once again, an ill-fated second period did the Stars in, though they gave up far fewer goals than they did in Saturday’s game.

The Marlies rattled off three unanswered goals in the middle frame, the first one coming eleven seconds after the puck drop. The last came within the final three minutes of the period. That’s not a great recipe for success.

Now 0-10-0-1 during this moribund stretch, the Stars have only to look inward to find the will to come out in the win column sooner than later. They’ll get another crack at it on Friday in San Antonio.

Tonight's lines:
Robertson-Kero-MacKay
Mascherin-L’Esperance-McClure
Mersch-Gardner-Kiviranta
Felhaber-Melnick-Bleackley

Heatherington-Gleason
Bayreuther-Cecconi
Nyberg-Djuse

Oettinger

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Cuglietta, Vala, Tufte (scratch)
Hanley, Caamano (call-up)
Scarlett (lower body)

Tonight’s attendance was 6,012.

Rhett Gardner was reassigned to Texas before the game and played on the third line with Mersch and Kiviranta.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Toronto - November 17 2019

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