TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 6 GLASGOW CLAN 2
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars completed a four-point weekend with vicotries over their two Scottish rivals after they downed Glasgow Clan 6-2 on home ice in the Challenge Cup.
By Kris Smith
The Stars were down three players heading into their final group stage fixture as defensemen, Kris Inglis and Sean Allen both sat out with upper-body injuries and suspended forward, Johnny Walker served the first-game of his three-match ban.
The Clan were also missing a few players, most notably two former Dundee players as Charlie Combs and Philippe Sanche were out with injury and their return to the DIA was put on hold.
It was a fast-paced start with both teams exchanging chances in the opening minutes and it was Stars winger, Brendan Harms who came closest to scoring as he crashed in at the back post but could not get on the end of Spencer Naas’s pass and the chance was gone.
However, Naas was at the forefront of the Dundee attack and he would break the deadlock on four minutes when his effort slipped between the legs of Antti Karjalainen and it trickled across the line to take the in-form American’s tally to seven points in his last four games.
Marc LeFebvre’s men had more opportunities and could have doubled their lead but it was all coming from some great shot-stopping on their back-end by Kevin Carr as the Canadian keeper was getting a piece of everything.
Although, he would finally be beaten on 13 minutes as a high turnover allowed the Clan to break quickly and despite the Dundee defence forcing the puck out wide and then behind the net, Glasgow’s Darien Craighead pulled off a spectacular wraparound finish to tie the game.
The home side continued to have the better of the chances in the final part of the opening period but could not put any away as they went into the first break level.
The Tayside team did not stop however and picked up right where they left off, sending wave after wave of attack in on the Clan net which would generate 23 shots on target over the next 20 minutes.
The Stars were rewarded for their dominance with three goals in 67 seconds as they began by capitalising on a powerplay, when Jake Elmer netted his first goal for the club with a powerful strike into the top of the Glasgow net and then just 10 seconds later, James Phelan finished off a rebound after Karjalainen had denied two previous efforts.
With Dundee now leading 3-1, Clan Head Coach, Jason Morgan called a timeout to settle down his side and he also chose to substitute backup keeper, Jake Kielly into the game, ending the Finn’s night between the pipes after only 28 minutes.
Despite the break and changes, Dundee kept piling on the pressure and added their fourth goal one minute later, this time defenseman, Chris McKay would also score his first goal in a Stars shirt after he fired across goal and into the top corner of Kielly’s net in the 29th minute.
Glasgow did have some short spells of pressure but were met by Carr at every turn as the Dundee keeper produced some big stops, leaving the Braehead club unable to cut into Dundee’s lead before the final intermission.
The third period would be no different as in less than two minutes of play, Brent Beaudoin became the third player of the evening to score his first goal for the Stars as he fired into the roof of the net from close range to make it 5-1.
Five minutes later, Phelan would then net his brace as he drifted wide at the backpost and had a gaping goal to fire into on the pass from Josh Brittain and that put the game out of reach for Glasgow, but they did have one more goal in them as Reid Petryk touched home their second of the night from the edge of the crease.
Dundee secured their second win of the weekend as they took maximum points in both the league and Challenge Cup but now face a similarly in-form side in Guildford Flames next weekend, who will come to Tayside next Saturday before hosting the Stars in Surrey on Sunday.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #14 James Phelan
Glasgow: #11 Reid Petryk
Goals
1st:
1-0 Spencer Naas (Brendan Harms, Ryan Valentini) 04:22
1-1 Darien Craighead (Robert Lachowicz) 13:08
2nd:
2-1 Jake Elmer (Kyle Pouncy, Josh Brittain) 27:32 PPG
3-1 James Phelan (Carter Johnson, Jonathan McBean) 27:42
4-1 Chris McKay (Ryan Valentini, Carter Johnson) 28:39
3rd:
5-1 Brent Beaudoin (Anthony Rinaldi, Jake Elmer) 41:16
6-1 James Phelan (Jonathan McBean, Josh Brittain) 45:16
6-2 Reid Petryk (Gary Haden, Michael Pelech) 53:21
All images: Derek Black.
