A poor first period doomed the Texas Stars in Manitoba on Monday as they fell to the Moose in a 4-1 decision. This Stars team now bears the ignominious distinction of having the worst losing streak in franchise history.
If you care to keep count, that gives the Stars an 0-7-0-1 record in their last eight. The previous record losing streak came in 2014 when they went 0-3-4 in seven games.
The Stars got off to a promising enough start as they were forechecking hard and creating chances in the offensive zone. All momentum was killed when they took a high sticking penalty nearly nine minutes into the period and Manitoba’s Michael Spacek made them pay, cleaning up a loose puck on the power play.
Brent Pedersen scored a breakaway goal for the Moose on the very next shift, prompting head coach Derek Laxdal to take a timeout.
After a loss last weekend, Laxdal commented that his team had a tendency to hang their heads when facing adversity on the scoreboard. The timeout was, perhaps more than anything, a chance to hit the reset button and talk the Stars out of their collective funk.
The timeout initially seemed to work when the Stars hustle drew them an offensive zone penalty and their first power play opportunity. They got a couple of good looks on the man advantage, but it ended in disaster as Skyler McKenzie broke out of the box and created a 2-on-1 the other way. Jansen Harkins finished the play, pushing the Moose lead to 3-0.
With six minutes remaining in the second period, Josh Melnick scored his second goal in as many games when he cleaned up a loose puck. The Stars never threatened further, and the Moose scored an empty netter with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation for good measure.
The Stars continue to search for something positive as they have another game against Manitoba on Wednesday.
Tonight's lines:
Robertson-Gardner-Caamano
Mascherin-L’Esperance-Kiviranta
Mersch-Kero-McClure
Tufte-Melnick-Felhaber
Heatherington-Gleason
Bayreuther-Cecconi
Nyberg-Djuse
Oettinger
Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Bleackley, MacKay (scratch)
Hanley (call-up)
Tonight’s attendance was unreported.
AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Manitoba - November 11 2019
If you care to keep count, that gives the Stars an 0-7-0-1 record in their last eight. The previous record losing streak came in 2014 when they went 0-3-4 in seven games.
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| (credit: Manitoba Moose) |
The Stars got off to a promising enough start as they were forechecking hard and creating chances in the offensive zone. All momentum was killed when they took a high sticking penalty nearly nine minutes into the period and Manitoba’s Michael Spacek made them pay, cleaning up a loose puck on the power play.
Brent Pedersen scored a breakaway goal for the Moose on the very next shift, prompting head coach Derek Laxdal to take a timeout.
After a loss last weekend, Laxdal commented that his team had a tendency to hang their heads when facing adversity on the scoreboard. The timeout was, perhaps more than anything, a chance to hit the reset button and talk the Stars out of their collective funk.
The timeout initially seemed to work when the Stars hustle drew them an offensive zone penalty and their first power play opportunity. They got a couple of good looks on the man advantage, but it ended in disaster as Skyler McKenzie broke out of the box and created a 2-on-1 the other way. Jansen Harkins finished the play, pushing the Moose lead to 3-0.
With six minutes remaining in the second period, Josh Melnick scored his second goal in as many games when he cleaned up a loose puck. The Stars never threatened further, and the Moose scored an empty netter with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation for good measure.
The Stars continue to search for something positive as they have another game against Manitoba on Wednesday.
Tonight's lines:
Robertson-Gardner-Caamano
Mascherin-L’Esperance-Kiviranta
Mersch-Kero-McClure
Tufte-Melnick-Felhaber
Heatherington-Gleason
Bayreuther-Cecconi
Nyberg-Djuse
Oettinger
Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Bleackley, MacKay (scratch)
Hanley (call-up)
Tonight’s attendance was unreported.
AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Manitoba - November 11 2019
This is a very young team that doesn’t yet seem to have a direction. It’s going to be a long season compared to others. Hard work now will hopefully pay off down the road.
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