By Kris Smith
The Stars can claim a three-point weekend if they can beat the Steelers tonight, but less than 24 hours ago, they were edged out in overtime by Nottingham Panthers after a closely contested and low-scoring game.
Dundee were handed the 2-1 loss and fell behind by in the first period when Mathieu Lemay had played through teammate, Westin Michaud towards the Stars net in the 14th minute.
Michaud would be forced wide, where he quickly spun and played the puck back out in front of goal, slipping it underneath the legs of Carr in the process and as the Dundee keeper had committed to Michaud, it left Lemay open to shoot into the gaping goal.
However, after beginning to dominate the scoring chances, the Stars eventually cracked the Panthers defence and Carter Johnson bagged the equaliser on the powerplay.
Inside 37 minutes, Ryan Valentini’s shot would be blocked by Harms before bouncing off of his left arm and dropping in the right spot for Johnson to sweep home.
There would be no goals in the third period but one fight between two ex-teammates as Stars captain, Drydn Dow blocked the path of Jordan Kelsall with a hip-check.
Kelsall took exception and pursued Dow before the former teammates would drop the gloves and go toe-to-toe in a short bout.
With no winner found in 60 minutes, the game went into overtime and the game-winning-goal would come on 62 minutes as the Panthers exploited the extra space on the ice to find Victor Bjorkung, unmarked on the right flank and he blasted the puck between the glove and pad of Carr.
Meanwhile, Sheffield were in Manchester for a Challenge Cup contest with the Storm and they would come away with a 6-3 victory.
Aaron Fox’s men would lead early and get three goals ahead before the home team would fight back to make it 3-3, but the Steelers powered on to regain a three-goal cushion, with goals coming from Kevin Tansey, Josh Nicholls, Colton Saucerman, Marc-Olivier Vallerand (2) and Mark Simpson.
Goaltender, Anthony Morrone got the start for Sheffield last night, whilst Kevin Carr was between the pipes for Dundee and the Stars also had to ice without defenseman, Kris Inglis as he served a one-game suspension, but he returns to the line-up tonight.
Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “I thought we were on our heels in the first period but we weathered the Storm and in the second and third I thought we were the better team.
“We pushed them right to the end and coming into a building like this, it is a massive point, especially for the playoff standings towards the end of the year.
“The second and third were our best periods, maybe even of the season so far and obviously we did not capitalise on our chances in the end but that is hockey.
“We had some great goaltending from Kevin (Carr) tonight and he kept us going after the first period and we pushed them right until the bitter end, and that is the standard that we need to play at for the rest of the season.”
Today’s game in Sheffield will face-off at 4pm.
All images: Dean Wooley.
