CEDAR PARK, Texas — The Texas Stars may have dug a hole too deep to climb out of, dropping both game on their home ice. The series moves on to Rockford where the Stars haven’t won a game in over two years.
“It’s been done before,” Stars’ Captain Maxime Fortunus said. “We’re focused on the game next Wednesday and we have to get out there and play our game.”
Texas came out of the gate with the same slow start they suffered the night before. While they didn’t spend as much time in their defensive zone in the first period, they still didn’t get their first shot on goal until about eight minutes were gone in the period.
“It’s kind of mind-boggling, the starts we’ve had the last two games,” Head Coach Derek Laxdal said. “We really haven’t been a slow starting team all year. Give Rockford credit. We really didn’t find our legs until about five minutes into the second period.”
Michael Leighton
Photo by Christina Shapiro
They also couldn’t solve Rockford goaltender Michael Leighton, who stopped 34 of 35 shots, adding to the 33 saves from game one.
Rockford got on the board in the first period when Garret Ross squirted a puck through Stars’ goaltender Jack Campbell. Â They extended their lead to 2-0 near the end of the period when Tanner Kero fired the eventual game-winner past Campbell.
Brett Ritchie
Photo by Christina Shapiro
Brett Ritchie pulled the Stars to within a goal in the third period, but Rockford struck back with power play goal by Peter Regin that just squeezed through Campbell.
If the Stars want to continue their Calder Cup defense, they will have to win all three games next week in Rockford. Game three is Wednesday night.
“We’ve got to come out and find that urgency Wednesday night,” Laxdal said. “We have to go in there with the mindset that we’ve got to win that one game. They went into St. Johns last year and won three in a row to win the cup. If we don’t win Wednesday night, it’s plain and simple. Our season will be over.”
Contact the writer at: mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com
twitter: @phnhockeyeditor
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