CEDAR PARK, Texas – Texas Stars Head Coach Derek Laxdal said last week that the keys to defending home ice against a good team like Rockford meant putting lots of pucks on net and limiting their chances. Neither consistently happened as Rockford topped the Stars 4-2 to take a 1-0 lead in the short best-of-five series
For the first ten minutes of the game, Rockford controlled the puck mercilessly in the Texas defensive zone, and opened the scoring with a power play goal when Spencer Abbott wristed a shot past Yussi Rynnas giving Rockford a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we started a little slow during the first ten minutes,” Laxdal said. “They played hard on pucks and kind of set the tone. You have a game plan in place and if you’re not willing to go by the game plan (you won’t succeed).”
Curtis McKenzie
Photo by Christina Shapiro
Despite the slow first period start, Texas tied the game at one late in the second period, when Curtis McKenzie forced a puck past Michael Leighton from a scrum in front of the net.
Texas took a 2-1 lead early in the third on a power play goal by Julius Honka who fired a wicked slap shot through Leighton from the right point.
The Stars got themselves in trouble with some undisciplined play, giving the IceHogs back-to-back five-on-three power plays. It looked like Texas might weather the storm, but Abbott scored his second goal of the night with just one second remaining on the first five-on-three penalty to tie the game at two.
A few minutes later, Rockford took the lead when Kirill Gotovets beat Rynnas after taking a pass from Phillip Danault from behind the net. Texas pulled Rynnas with a minute and a half left in the game, but Ryan Hartman’s empty net goal sealed the 4-2 win for Rockford.
“We have to have a short term memory moving forward and special teams have to be better,” Laxdal said. Our entries into their zone were sloppy and if you don’t have possession of the puck, you’re not going to have success on the power play.”
The Stars will be looking to even the series in game two Saturday night before heading to Rockford for the remainder of the series.
“Moving forward, the games are only going to get more intense,” Laxdal said. “I didn’t like our game today and felt early on we were missing something. If we play tomorrow night like we did tonight, we’ll be in a hole.”
Contact the writer at: mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com
Twitter @phnhockeyeditor
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