Texas Falls Short of Second Last Minute Comeback, Falling to Wild 3-1

 

(Credit: Iowa Wild)

Bad luck can have the tendency to snowball at the worst possible times. Tonight in Iowa the Texas Stars were dealt another bad hand as they fell behind early and could not close a 3-1 gap at Casey’s Center in Des Moines. 

It took two minutes for the Stars to find out they had fallen behind the Wild when the officials determined that, despite the puck sitting firmly in Stars goaltender Remi Poirier’s glove, both had crossed the goal line at 3:13 of the first period. 

Hunter Haight would extend the Iowa lead to 2-0 at 7:37 of the first period when he fired a blistering wrister from the top of the left circle that went right over Poirier’s shoulder. 

Though the Wild have struggled offensively just as much as the Stars this season, they have been an elite defensive team and the two-goal spot let them tighten their grip on the game. 

The Stars finally broke through at 6:03 of the third period when Arttu Hyry scored from the slot on the power play to make it 2-1. It was Hyry’s second goal of the season and his first since returning to the lineup. 

Iowa would get an empty-netter from Haight to make it 3-1 and ended Texas’ hopes for a second comeback in as many games. 

It was an admirable defensive effort from Texas considering that half of their top-4 defensive pairs were up in Dallas. In fact, defense has been holding steady for the Stars, who had allowed only 1.88 goals per game in their last eight leading into Tuesday’s bout with the Wild. 

But the offensive has still been hard to come by, especially against Iowa who has now won the first three games of the season series against Texas while allowing only two goals. 

The injury situation with the big club will mean that Texas will have to wait a little longer for reinforcements but their ability to battle back, and get a goal from key contributors like Hyry has been an encouraging sign that they can tread water until then.

The Stars will now head back to Cedar Park where they will kickoff a four-game homestand starting Friday against the Rockford IceHogs. 

Tonight’s lines  
Tuomaala-Hyry-Hanas
Hughes-Shlaine-Lind
Martino-Scott-Seminoff
Ertel-Becker-McKenzie

Taylor-White
Bertucci-Karow
Punnett-Bergsland

Poirier

Injuries, scratches and notes
Capobianco, Kolyachonok (callup)
Stranges, Chisholm (scratch)
Looft (upper-body injury)

Tonight’s attendance was 2,547.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Iowa - November 18 2025