The first win of the Toby Petersen era Texas Stars will have to wait at least one more day, despite earning their first point, as they fell in overtime to the Rockford IceHogs 2-1 Friday night at the BMO Center.
Remi Poirier made 23 saves on 25 shots while Antonio Stranges scored his second goal of the year, but it was Rockford’s Oliver Moore who made the difference in the contest. Chicago’s first round pick (19th overall) in 2023 opened the scoring for the IceHogs early in the first period and closed it out in overtime to put Rockford over the top.
It was a solid road game for Texas, despite the loss, but an early game mistake put them on the back foot and they were chasing for a majority of the game.
Moore opened the scoring at 1:15 of the first period off of breakdown in the Texas defensive zone. First year Star Vladislav Kolyachonok took a hit behind the net that popped his helmet off, unable to get back to the bench in time, Texas faced a delayed penalty. Kolyachonok was stuck in no-man’s land and unable to defend which created the space for Moore to score on a rebound off of Poirier to make it 1-0.
The start pushed Rockford to take control for the majority of the first period. Peppering Poirier to the tune of 11 shots to 3. Things were made even more complicated when an injury to Stars first line center Arttu Hyry took him out of the game for most of the second period.
Despite the rough start, and the need to shuffle the lineup in Hyry’s absence, the Stars made some adjustments and locked things back down in the second as they managed some sustained pressure in the Rockford zone.
Luckily for Texas, Hyry returned for the third period, in a full face bubble and made an immediate impact.
After an excellent zone entry by Kyle Capobianco, the Stars started to cycle the puck in the Rockford zone. Hyry carried the puck behind the net and peeled off for a shot, with the cycle in motion Capobianco pinched in and fired another shot that got to the stick of Kole Lind who tee’d up the puck for a rushing Stranges who wasted no time making it 1-1.
The Stars had the chance to win in regulation with a prime power play opportunity to close out the period, but could not get past Rockford Goaltender Drew Commesso who set the stage for Moore’s dramatic overtime winner just a few minutes later.
Texas will get another shot tomorrow night when they visit the Milwaukee Admirals. Puck drop will be at 6PM CT.
Tonight’s Lines
Stranges-Hyry-Lind
Hanas-Hughes-Hemming
McKenzie-Schlaine-Seminoff
Ertel-Scott-Becker
Capobianco-Taylor
Kolyachonok-Looft
Kyrou-Karow
Poirier
Injuries, scratches and notes
Berticcui, White, Chisholm, MacDonell (scratch)
Tonight’s attendance was 4,254.
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