DES MOINES, Iowa – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, suffered a 4-1 setback against the Iowa Wild on Tuesday night at Casey’s Center.
Goaltending ruled the first period as Riley Mercer got the better of the Stars offense on multiple high-danger chances. Mercer was credited with 11 saves in the first frame.
Iowa earned a power play eight minutes into the second period and capitalized on it. Gerry Mayhew scored his ninth goal of the season as he stuffed in a rebound off a Hunter Haight shot to open the scoring.
Sean Chisholm had a chance on a breakaway in the final seconds of the second, but Mercer turned him away with his right pad.
Iowa added insurance to their lead two minutes into the third as Bradley Marek fired a bouncing puck in the slot past Arno Tiefensee to double the Wild lead.
Texas got a power play soon after the Wild marker with a chance to cut the deficit to one. Newest Stars forward Nathan Bastian whipped a shot from above the circles that got a piece of Mercer, but Artem Shlaine forced the rebound over the goal line for his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
Three minutes later, Iowa was back on the man-advantage. After a backdoor play failed, the puck bounced to Haight in the left circle. Haight’s shot got a piece of Ben Jones on the way into the net to give Iowa a two-goal lead once again.
The Stars pulled Tiefensee with 1:41 remaining for an extra attacker, but Ryan Sandelin sealed the victory for the Wild with an empty-net goal.
Tiefensee had 26 saves in the loss for the Stars, and Mercer had 28 saves in the win for the Wild.
The two teams meet again Wednesday night in a New Year’s Eve clash. The game is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Casey’s Center. Catch all the action on AHL TV on FloHockey.
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: Iowa Wild
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