MANCHESTER STORM 4 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 1
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars were beaten in Manchester on Friday night as they went down 4-1 to the Storm in a crucial playoff battle.
By Kris Smith
The Stars made one change to their line-up as forward, Brent Beaudoin came in for Tommy Parrottino on the second line and they had a few chances in the opening moments but could not find a way past goaltender, Evan Weninger.
Manchester would then begin their push forward and eventually opened the scoring through Cameron Critchlow as he picked out the top right corner of Kevin Carr’s net and three minutes later, Johnny Corneil doubled the home teams lead, with a tap-in after the puck slipped through the legs of the Stars keeper.
In the second period, Matt Ginn’s side quickly extended their lead with another from Critchlow as he tapped in the rebound from Matt Murphy’s saved effort and halfway through the middle session, Dundee subbed out Carr for back-up goaltender, Lucas Brine.
The tensions then boiled over between James Phelan and Manchester’s Stephen Johnson after Phelan was brought down by the Storm player and he sprung back up and went straight after Johnson, dragging him to the ice.
Johnson would receive a two-minute minor for tripping, whilst Phelan took two for roughing, two for cross-checking and a 10-minute major for abuse of an official.
Zack Phillips then added a fourth goal in 38th minute as he benefitted from a loose puck and turned it past Brine, after he made the initial stop on Austin Farley’s shot.
In the third period, the Stars tried to conjure up a response and eventually found a breakthrough on 56 minutes as Brendan Harms knocked down Spencer Naas shot and tucked home the rebound.
The night ended in defeat for Dundee as they lost a chance to strengthen their playoff positioning but they have a day off before welcoming league leaders, Sheffield Steelers on Sunday.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #81 Brendan Harms
Manchester: #11 Cameron Critchlow
Goals
1st:
1-0 Cameron Critchlow (Tyler Hinam, Chase Harrison) 13:04
2-0 Johnny Corneil (Austin Farley, Dallas Ehrhardt) 16:21
2nd:
3-0 Cameron Critchlow (Matt Murphy, Samuel Tremblay) 23:05
4-0 Zack Phillips (Austin Farley, Matt Murphy) 37:43
3rd:
4-1 Brendan Harms (Spencer Naas) 56:14
All images: Storm Images.
