Wolves trampled by Texas
The Wolves forged a tie late in the second period, but the Texas Stars reeled off 3 straight goals to pull away for a 7-3 victory Friday night at Allstate Arena.
Defenseman Peter Harrold and forwards Danny Kristo and Ty Rattie scored for the Wolves, who owned a 2-2 tie in the second period for just 40 seconds before Texas struck twice in nine seconds to regain momentum.
"I thought we took control of the game," said Wolves head coach John Anderson. "Then one bad play and it ends up in the back of our net. Then they made a great play on the power play. We had it covered and it still went in."
Texas (2-0-0-0) opened the scoring at 13:26 of the first period after the Wolves gave away the puck in their own end. Right wing Matej Stransky wound up with possession at the hashmarks of the right circle and snapped a shot past Pheonix Copley's blocker.
The Stars forced another turnover a few minutes later with their aggressive forecheck, which led to center Gemel Smith's one-timer from the slot that gave Texas a 2-0 lead at 16:46 of the first.
The Wolves (1-1-0-0) pulled within 2-1 at 6:20 of the second on Harrold's snapper from the top of the right circle that found a home in the upper left corner of the net. Andre Benoit and captain Pat Cannone set up Harrold's goal, which came four seconds after a Wolves power play expired.
Chicago forced a 2-2 tie at 16:09 of the second on Kristo's first goal with the Wolves. Cannone launched a shot from the right corner that Texas goaltender John Muse steered aside, but the carom went directly to Kristo bearing down on the crease for a quick strike.
Texas recovered swiftly with a pair of goals nine seconds apart. Devin Shore blocked a shot, carried it all the way down the ice and slammed on the brakes just outside the crease to poke a shot past Copley at 16:49 of the third period.
The Stars went on their first power play one second later and veteran Greg Rallo capitalized with a quick shot from the bottom of the left circle to push Texas' lead to 4-2 at 16:58.
Texas boosted its lead to 5-2 at 1:13 of the third when Rallo tipped a shot from the point on the power play, but the Wolves answered 30 seconds later with Rattie's precise shot from the bottom of the left circle set up by Justin Hodgman's wraparound from behind the net.
The Stars short-circuited that Chicago rally as Cole Ully launched a blast crossing through the high slot at 4:41 to make it 6-3 for the visitors.
Copley (0-1-0), making his Wolves debut, stopped 23 of 30 shots. Muse (2-0-0) posted 23 saves to earn the win.