Clayton Stoner opened up the scoring when he ripped a shot from the point past Stars goalie Brent Krahn, during a first period in which it took over half the period for the Stars to finally get a shot on goal. The Aeros dominated; the Stars must have given up 15 turnovers in the neutral zone. It was the kind of period where you're glad you're gonna see this team 11 more times this season.
But two different teams came out of the locker rooms at the second. The Aeros were flat and lacked the energy of the first. The Stars looked like they'd gotten a talking to in the room and were ready to make amends for a sorry first.
And make amends they did. Shots were almost exactly the reverse of the first period with the Stars gettin 11 to the Aeros 4, but they capitalized one extra time with goals from Rallo and McCulloch.
The McColloch goal was off a nasty rebound into traffic and the bouncing puck hopped past the pad of Dubielewicz.
The Aeros started the third on the power play, but it was Texas who scored first when Korostin popped the puck 5-hole on Dubie midway through the period on what looked like a bad play defensively for the Aeros.
With about 4 minutes left in the period, Constantine pulled Dubie from the net and the Aeros went to work with 6 men. Amazingly the Stars were unable to get the puck in the empty net, but had several good chances as the Aeros organized their man-advantage.
Though it was too little too late, rookie Chad Rau scored his first professional goal after the Aeros had been storming Krahn's crease for nearly 3 straight minutes. But the boys in the bomber sweaters were unable to get another puck past Krahn, who was truly outstanding in the final minute of play, stopping a whopping 18 of 19 shots.
Which leads us to the stick figure of the night:
Folks, Stars goaltending is out of this world. Climie is just as good as Krahn. The mere 4 penalties in this game indicate that it's not a rivalry yet, but give it time.
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