There is little room for error in a best-of-three series and the Manitoba Moose can afford no more letdowns as they are one loss away from elimination.
The Moose fell 6-3 to the Texas Stars Tuesday night in Game 1 of their AHL Central Division First Round matchup and their season is now on the line in the short series.
Manitoba opened the scoring late in first period on a Daniel Torgersson goal but the Stars took over from there, with four unanswered goals.
Nikita Chibrikov and Parker Ford scored for the Moose to cut the lead to 4-3, but Texas would answer with two more after that to put away the game.
Thomas Milic made 30 saves in net for Manitoba in a losing effort.
The Moose were riding some momentum heading into Game 1, as they defeated Texas twice over the weekend to wrap up the regular season, but the Stars were able to bounce back and move a win away from advancing.
All three games in this series are in Cedar Park, Texas, with a must-win Game 2 for the Moose scheduled for Thursday night.
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