"We started slow and didn't really get into the game until the second period. We made some mental mistakes. We weren't taking the body, we were just stick checking," Stars' head coach Rob Coutts said. "Once we were engaged, we had some chances. In the second period we had lots of chances to score. We executed better."
Mathieu Paris scored his first goal of the season for the Stars mid third period. Tyler Alexander and Tristan Gerth, picked up the assists on the power play marker.
"In the third we got one and almost had a tap in for 2-2," said Coutts, who was not happy about the bench minor handed to his team with 16 seconds to go in regulation.
The Flyers edged the Stars in shots for the game, 47-46.
"Over the last two and half periods it was all us pretty much. We have to be like that from the start. It's got to be 60 minutes, not 10 or 15 each period," Stars' captain Tristan Roberts said. "As soon as the puck drops we have go, grind and play hard. We just have to come out hard and not wait until we're down."
St. Thomas sits in the basement of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Western Conference, with a 2-8-0-0 record.
"It's only 10 games in but we have to start winning games," Roberts said. "We have the team and we have the skill. It's just about getting it together, being a complete team. We tend to have one player on each line go off and try to do it on his own, but we need to do it as a team. As we buy in as a team we'll start winning games."
The Stars host Sarnia, Friday, October 29.
rob@hometownplay.ca
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