Iowa Stars at Houston

The Iowa Stars fell 5-0 in Houston Sunday evening, finishing the playing portion of their Texas road trip with a 1-1-1 record.

Philippe Sauve got the start in goal and allowed five goals on 30 shots. Defenseman Mark Fistric, assigned to Iowa by Dallas earlier Sunday, was in the lineup. Vojtech Polak, who missed the last game with a leg injury, returned to action.

The Stars were still without injured players James Neal, who is out long-term with a knee injury, Aaron Gagnon (shoulder) and Tom Wandell (ribs).

Iowa players and staff will now head to Dallas to watch the Dallas Stars play Minnesota and they will also practice in Frisco. The two teams will then travel together to Chicago, where they both play on Wednesday.

"We're just lucky the schedule worked out as it did," Stars co-GM Les Jackson said on an Iowa Stars radio broadcast recently. "It's a great opportunity for the players to blend together and spend some time together. It gives some of these young kids a view of what it's like at the NHL level, how they travel and how they get treated. I know some have been up and seen it, but some haven't. They guys who haven't, the ones who just are in their first years, it will give them a little bit of encouragement to say, 'Hey, I want to get there.' "