The Wolves opened a two-game weekend series against the Stars on Friday night in Texas.
Ryan Wagner scored two goals but the Wolves came up short as the Stars skated to a 5-2 victory at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
The Wolves got on the board first early in the opening period when Wagner redirected a Tyson Feist shot from the point past Stars goaltender Matt Murray. Feist and Isaac Ratcliffe earned assists on Wagner’s second goal of the season.
In the second, the Stars seized the lead on goals by Mavrik Bourque and Antonio Stranges just 1 minute, 1 second apart.
Texas took advantage of Wolves penalties in the third as Oskar Back and Matej Blumel each scored with a man advantage to extend the Stars’ lead to 4-1. Bourque earned his second assist of the game on Blumel’s goal for his third point of the contest.
Fredrik Karlstrom’s empty-net goal made it 5-1 in favor of Texas but the Wolves cut the deficit a short time later on Wagner’s second goal of the game. Wagner got his stick on Ronan Seeley’s long shot to redirect the puck by Murray for the final tally of the contest. Seeley and Josh Melnick were awarded assists.
Adam Scheel (33 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Murray (30 saves) earned the win for the Stars.
The Wolves dropped to 5-12-1-1 on the season while Texas improved to 12-5-2-1.
Next up: The Wolves travel to Texas to take on the Stars on Saturday night (7 p.m.).
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2023-24 season—everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings—visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.