ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Chicago Wolves kicked off a set of back-to-back games with the Texas Stars with a 6-1 defeat Friday night at Allstate Arena.
Texas took control early and the Wolves were unable to get on track as Chicago dropped its third game in a row. Brendan Perlini scored for the Wolves but it wasn’t enough as Riley Barber paced the Stars with two goals.
The Stars got off to a fast start when Barber found the back of the net midway through the opening period. Texas extended the lead on Barber’s second score of the game in the waning seconds of the period.
“They got a couple in the first and we just went flat after that,” Perlini said. “It’s unfortunate because we had a good effort in the third and guys were giving us good shifts.”
In the second period, Texas pushed the lead to 5-0 on goals by Ryan Shea, Curtis McKenzie and Riley Tufte.
Perlini notched his fifth goal of the season while the Wolves had a two-man advantage early in the third. The veteran rifled a wrist shot from the high slot past Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin to the glove side. Jamieson Rees and Vasily Ponomarev picked up assists on the goal. For Rees, it was his team-leading 14th point of the season.
The Stars answered with a goal by Thomas Harley to complete the scoring.
“Sometimes it takes a team to come in and beat the wheels off you and then guys will be like, ‘now we need to compete,’ ” Perlini said. “Maybe that’s a good thing for us. We get to go again (Saturday) so that’s good for us but in the same sense we really need to tighten things up.”
Zachary Sawchenko (30 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Khudobin (29 saves) earned the win for the Stars.
Chicago dropped to 5-8-2-0 while Texas improved to 8-6-2-2.
Up next: The Wolves host the Stars on Saturday at Allstate Arena (7 p.m.; My50 Chicago, AHLTV). It will be Wizards Night.
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2022-23 season — everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings — visit ChicagoWolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
