CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the San Jose Barracuda on Friday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
The Stars returned home from a two-week road trip for their annual Teddy Bear Toss and 6,142 fans helped donate nearly 4,000 stuffed animals that the team will donate to Texas Children’s Hospital and Operation Blue Santa.
San Jose struck first with under three minutes to go in the opening period when Jimmy Huntington tipped a Braden Hache shot under the crossbar past Remi Poirier.
Texas answered 32 seconds later with a marker of their own. Curtis McKenzie redirected a Tristan Bertucci shot from the point to release the teddy bears from the crowd. The score read 1-1 after the first frame.
In the first two minutes of the middle stanza, San Jose took the lead once more. Cole Clayton fired a shot from the right half-wall, which Patrick Giles tipped over the pad of Poirier.
As the clock ticked down to the final two minutes of the second period, Huntington took advantage of a Stars turnover, doubling the San Jose lead with a shot from the right circle. Once again, Texas struck back quickly. Jack Becker took an Arttu Hyry pass on the right wing and slipped the puck through Gabriel Carriere to cut the Stars deficit to 3-2 going into the third period.
Texas pulled Poirier with 1:36 remaining for an extra attacker, but weren’t able to find the equalizer.
Poirier had 21 saves in the loss for the Stars, and Carriere had 27 saves in the win for the Barracuda.
The two teams clash again Saturday night. The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Tickets are on sale now at www.texasstars.com/tickets.
The Texas Stars are the primary development affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars. For more information, call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit TexasStars.com.
Photo Credit: Logan Foust
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