There is a finite amount of time in any given season of hockey. When exactly a team runs out of time can vary, but every game, every period, every minute, and every second will eventually hit zero.
What a team is left with after will answer a lot questions about who they are and, at times, ask even more.
After Tuesday night’s 6-1 loss at Allstate Arena, the Texas Stars are left asking whether they would trade their ability to come-from-behind this season for the ability to take the initiative early. They are also left asking how big of a step they took just one season removed from their Western Conference Finals run.
Texas got a goal from Kole Lind at 5:52 of the second period that, for a moment, made it look like the Stars had at least one more comeback in them.
But the Wolves took the initiative back, as they did from the first minute of the game, and scored four more unanswered goals to make sure the clock struck midnight for the Stars.
Time was the theme of Game 5, and Chicago showed up ready to run in minute one of the match.
26 seconds into the game Luke Krys gathered the puck after a Chicago dump in and threw it up the boards to Matthew Seminoff. Ronan Seeley, who chased the dump in, forced a turnover from Seminoff and quickly passed it Bradly Nadeau who found Ryan Suzuki open for the one-timer to make it 1-0.
31 seconds later the Stars once again lost the puck behind their net and watched it roll back up the boards to Joel Nystrom. With the cycle restarted he passed it to his defense partner, Cal Foote who fired it into traffic where it took a bounce off Josiah Slavin and in to make it 2-0.
One minute into Game 5 and the Stars found themselves down two goals with 59 minutes of regulation time to go.
What, at first, felt like plenty of time to jump back in would eventually feel like not enough.
Lind was able to answer back at 5:52 of the second period after what was the best stretch of play from Texas on the night. Dylan Hryckowian led the rush with a clean entry into the Chicago zone where he took a shot on Cayden Primeau. Following up on his chance, Hryckowian followed the rebound into the corner where he won his board battle and quickly moved the puck to the onrushing Lind for a clean shot that beat the goaltender high to make it 2-1.
Still plenty of time to work with.
The game clock is shared, though, and with two minutes left in the second period the Wolves forced yet another turnover, claimed a failed clearance attempt and scored to make it 3-1.
Time to work with suddenly changed to time running out in an instant.
The Wolves would score three more times, including two more from Suzuki to complete his hat trick, and the clock struck zero on the 25-26 Texas Stars season.
At the end of it all, the Stars are left with answers to some questions and more questions to ask.
In a year where some of their top contributors from the Western Conference Finals run departed, either up to the big club in Dallas or other organizations, the Stars did find a new crop of promising players.
Excellent showings from young players like the aforementioned Hryckowian, who filled in admirably after his older brother’s ascension to Dallas, as well as Artem Schlaine and Trey Taylor showed that the pipeline is still flowing.
First year head coach Toby Petersen also made an excellent first impression ferrying a younger group through a tough start and getting them into gear.
But there are also questions about who may move on. Roster revamps are as common as a cold rink in the AHL and while there will be less spots up for grabs with the big club, one of this year's key contributors could be contributing up in Dallas instead.
It will all be answered in time, and while it finally ran out for the Stars this season, all they can do is set an alarm for the start of the season yet to come.
Tonight's lines
Hughes-Shlaine-Seminoff
Lind-Becker-Hryckowian
Stranges-Scott-McKenzie
Hanas-Rickwood-Fitzgerald
Kolyachonok-Krys
Minnetian-Taylor
Looft-Karow
Poirier
Injuries, scratches, and notes
Hyry (callup, injured)
Bergsland, Bertucci, Chisholm, J. Poirier, Kraws, Ertel, Martino, McDonald, Anderson (scratch)
Wheatcroft, Tuomaala (injured, out for season)
Tonight's attendance was 2,460.
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