Texas Stars Finish The Season With 3-2 Win in Iowa

(Credit: Shane Abbitt/Iowa Wild Photographer)

It was a good night for some of the big names as Texas polished off its 2021 schedule with a 3-2 win in Des Moines. The Stars opened the scoring but had to come back from a 2-1 deficit in the second to win the contest ultimately. The win set the Stars at 17-18-3 to finish the year, ending their season one game below .500 for the second year in a row.

After blowing two third period leads, Texas was happy to not only come from behind in this one but also to lock down the one-goal win in the third. Iowa outshot them 28-11 in the final forty minutes, so it was no cakewalk.

Colton Point took the start in the final game of the year, winning with 37 saves and pushing his own record to 8-5-1 on the year. 

For Texas, it was a game that gave a sneak peek to the future of the Dallas Stars, perhaps more so than other games on the season. Goals came from Thomas Harley, Mavrik Bourque and Adam Mascherin with Riley Damiani assisting on the Mascherin tally. Bourque also had an assist on Harley's opening goal.

Mascherin and Damiani's dominant seasons were bookended in a nice way as the trio with Nick Baptiste scored the final goal of the season. The line also scored the opening goal of the year, also in Des Moines, with Baptiste getting assists from Damiani and Mascherin. In all, the line combined for 41 of the team's 117 goals this year, 35% of the total.

With no playoffs in Dallas, these players will disperse to their hometowns to train for what everyone hopes is a more normal year starting in October. For many of these players, they will never again don a Texas Stars jersey, either because they move on or because they move up. For example, Texas fans may never again see Thomas Harley or Ty Dellandrea. But the same could be said for Cole Schneider, Nick Baptiste or Anthony Louis. 

On a personal note, thank you again for reading throughout this highly bizarre year. I look forward to writing the first recap of 2021-22 from the press box of the H-E-B Center, as opposed to my home office. And I look forward to seeing you all there, too.

Injuries, scratches and notes
Shea, Markison, Stranges, Porco, Felhaber, L. Martin, Scherbak, Sholl (scratch)
Honka (personal leave)
Kawaguchi (injury)

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Iowa - May 15 2021