Morin Ties Stars’ Single-Season Point Record in Loss

Feb 4, 2014

Center Travis Morin tied the franchise single-season point record with a third period goal that gave him 66 points, but the Texas Stars were ousted by the Oklahoma City Barons 5-2 Tuesday night in front of 4,256 fans at Cedar Park Center.

The Stars carried the opening minutes, hemming Oklahoma City deep in their own zone. However, the Barons struck first, against the run of play, scoring at 4:28 of the first period when Mark Arcobello beat Stars goaltender Josh Robinson five-hole with a backhand along the ice. Just two minutes later, Ben Eager was awarded a penalty shot when he was hooked on a breakaway, but Robinson denied his ensuing penalty shot attempt. Defenseman Taylor Fedun would double the Barons’ lead at 9:20 in the first frame with a slap shot from the point on a power play.

Texas came out firing in the second period, out-shooting Oklahoma City 19-to-11. Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak put Texas on the board at 5:03 with a slap shot from the blue line beating Barons’ goaltender, and former Texas Star, Richard Bachman stick-side. Mike Hedden and Justin Dowling earned the assists on Oleksiak’s fourth goal of the year. With only 50 seconds left in the middle twenty minutes, Barons forward Jack Combs would up the Oklahoma City lead to two, finishing off a give-and-go with Martin Gernat and depositing the puck into the open net.

A mere 29 seconds into the final period, Stars center Travis Morin stickhandled the puck into the slot, taking a wrist shot, and beat Bachman high stick-side for an unassisted goal. The goal gave Morin his 66th point of the year, which tied his own single-season franchise record, set during the 2011-2012 season. Barons captain Anton Lander scored a crucial insurance goal with 4:26 left in regulation, scoring the team’s second power play goal of the evening. With only 12.8 seconds left in the game, Eager added an empty net goal to seal the Oklahoma City victory 5-2.

Oklahoma City goaltender Richard Bachman finished with 35 saves on 37 shots, earning his 11th win of the season. Josh Robinson stopped 27-of-32 shots and took the loss for Texas. The Stars out-shot the Barons 37-to-32 in the game and went 0-for-4 on the power play. Oklahoma City was 2-for-5 on the man advantage.

Today’s game was the first of three this week for Texas as they travel to Abbotsford to square off against the Heat on Saturday, February 8th at 9:00 p.m. CT at Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre. The Stars will return to Cedar Park Center on Friday, February 21st as they host the Charlotte Checkers at 7:30 p.m. The February 21st home game kicks off Pink in the Rink Weekend presented by Cedar Park Regional Medical Center and is a $3 Beer and $4 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Wine Night. Pro-rated full and partial 2013-14 Texas Stars Season Tickets are on sale now. For more information on Texas Stars season tickets call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit www.TexasStarsHockey.com.