Stars Come up Short against Firebirds

Jan 14, 2026

CEDAR PARK, Texas - The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, fell behind early and dropped a midweek matchup 6-3 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds Wednesday at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. 

Ville Ottavainen opened the scoring for the Firebirds four minutes into the first period when his long-range shot deflected off Remi Poirier’s blocker. Just past the midway point of the first, Carson Rehkopf doubled the Coachella Valley lead on a loose puck in the crease. 

Antonio Stranges struck back for Texas just a minute later. While on the power play, Cameron Hughes found Stranges in the right circle, who ripped it past Jack LaFontaine to cut the Stars deficit to 2-1. Stranges has now scored in three straight games. 

As the middle frame ticked down to the final three minutes, Jani Nyman broke past the Stars defense and slid a backhanded shot through Poirier to add a third for the Firebirds. 

The Stars took little time to respond as Luke Krys wristed a shot from the point past LaFontaine 50 seconds later for his first goal of the season.

Coachella Valley received some good fortune to begin the third period. Caleb Price dumped the puck in behind the net, it took an unconventional bounce off the boards, right to Oscar Fisker Mølgaard who had an open net to make it 4-2 Firebirds.

Matthew Seminoff struck back for Texas with eight minutes remaining. Seminoff fired a Hughes feed from the right circle just under the crossbar to make it 4-3. 

Another bad bounce off the boards went the way of Coachella Valley with six minutes left as Nyman found his second goal of the game. Texas pulled Poirier for the extra attacker but could not complete the comeback. John Hayden added an empty-net goal to make it 6-3.

Poirier had 32 saves in the loss for the Stars, and LaFontaine had 25 saves in the win for the Firebirds.  

The Stars will continue their homestand with a matchup against the Ontario Reign on 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: Andy Nietupski 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 28	W: LaFontaine (CV)	1: Nyman (CV)
Photo	CV: 38	L: Poirier (TEX)	2: Ottavainen (CV)
			3: Hughes (TEX)