Mistakes on Special Teams Derail Texas Stars in 4-1 Loss to Colorado

(Credit: Colorado Eagles)

The Texas Stars struggled in a chippy contest against the Colorado Eagles, losing 4-1. The Stars scored the first goal of the game but then proceeded to give up four straight to Colorado.

After having his first night off this season, Jake Oettinger was back between the posts for Texas. Oettinger ended with 34 saves on 38 shots from Colorado.

Throughout the game, penalties and special teams execution were glaring issues for the Stars. The Texas power play finished the night 0-for-5 and gave up a shorthanded goal. In addition, Texas ended with a total of 45 PIM and 10 infractions, which led to two power play goals for Colorado. All of those problems stacked on top of each other to create an insurmountable wall for the Stars, which ended up leading to the loss.

In the first period, Riley Tufte opened the scoring with a goal assisted by Oskar Back and Max Martin. Colorado created multiple chances during the period, but Oettinger kept out every shot he faced.

Special teams issues started for the Stars in the second period. Texas committed three penalties in succession from the end of the first period into the second and Colorado eventually converted on their third PP opportunity to tie the game. Problems for the Stars worsened after they gave up a shorthanded goal to Alex Newhook and then another power play goal to Dylan Sikura just over 10 minutes later.

Near the end of the second period, Max Martin had his arm cut by a skate during a PP. The Texas players were quick to get the attention of the referees, and the game was briefly halted with 5:09 remaining. At the time of the posting of this story, there is no official update on Martin’s injury.

Frustrations erupted in the final period as Riley Tufte, Ben Gleason, and Alex Petrovic were all involved in separate fights. Colorado added a fourth goal with 2:19 remaining in the game, which capped off their convincing win.

On a second consecutive night giving up eight PP opportunities to Colorado, the Stars again found themselves failing to maintain offensive zone pressure throughout the night. Tufte did score his third goal of the season, but the Stars did not create enough meaningful chances to challenge Colorado throughout the rest of the game.

The Stars will look to end their three-game skid when they travel to take on the Barracuda in San Jose on Saturday at 3:15 PM.

Tonight's lines

McKenzie-Peterson-L'Esperance
Karlstrom-Damiani-Dellandrea
Kawaguchi-Melnick-Gardner
Tufte-Back-Caamano

Gleason-Petrovic
Borgman-Cecconi
Shea-Martin

Oettinger

Injuries, scratches and notes
Rosburg, Louis, Gregoire, Felhaber (scratch)
Harley (callup)

Tonight’s attendance was 5,065.

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