Texas Plays Ideal Road Game As Bow Blanks Hogs, Tufte Scores First

(Credit; Rockford IceHogs)

When you draw up the plans for the ideal road game, tonight's Texas Stars game is what you might want to pull up on the video study. Landon Bow returned to the lineup and shutout the IceHogs with 29 saves. Riley Tufte scored his first pro goal, the ultimate game winner, in the second. The penalty kill was flawless and bailed Texas out when they needed it most.

The Stars came out strong in the first period with a 2-on-1 generating the best chance for the Stars. It was a scoreless game after twenty though with shots leaning to Texas 11-9.

Rookie Riley Tufte finally got the monkey off his back in the second period, scoring his first in the league. It was unassisted on the scoresheet, but Tye Felhaber gets credit for generating the chance getting the puck into the zone. Tufte has had fantastic offensive chances over the past several weeks but hasn't put the puck in the net. Relief and elation were evident in his celebration.

Riley Tufte's first pro goal

The penalty kill was what stood up to help Texas through the night. On multiple occasions, the Stars had extended stints in their own zone, including a full 1:40 unbroken shift in the second. If you want to count it, they even had 2:18 of 6-on-5 time at the end of the game. Bow did his best work late in the third, including the stop below.

Texas vaults back over Grand Rapids, who earned two points tonight, and maintains their hold on fourth place. They've still got games in hand on almost everyone around them and two games against 3rd place Chicago are on the docket for the weekend.

Tonight's lines:
Louis-L'Esperance-Kiviranta
Robertson-Kero-Caamano
Mersch-Palve-Melnick
Tufte-Gardner-Felhaber

Heatherington-Cecconi
Hanley-Djuse
Bayreuther-Scarlett

Bow

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Cuglietta, Gleason, MacKay (scratch)
Mascherin (injury)

Today's attendance was 1,991.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Rockford - January 22 2020