By Kris Smith
The Stars stuck with Lucas Brine in net for a third consecutive game, with Canadian keeper, Kevin Carr returning to the line-up as back-up and that meant they were only missing the newly announced defenseman, Xavier Pouliot, who is yet to arrive in the UK.
Both teams pushed hard to find an early lead but strong goaltending from Brine and Evan Weninger in the Storm goal meant the first period would end scoreless, however Manchester did have a powerplay in the 17th minute as James Phelan was boxed for hooking but the home team failed to convert.
Dundee were seeing most of their efforts blocked and if not then saved by Weninger whenever they got forward, utilising their speed to get in to the Storm zone but at the other end they played a gritty and physical defensive game to limit the number of shots Brine would face.
In the second period, the Stars were quickest off the mark and opened the scoring through Jake Elmer on 21 minutes as he was played forward by Kris Inglis pass and that put him in-behind all alone and he tucked his shot past Weninger.
Marc LeFebvre’s men then kept on pushing for a second goal and had the chance to double their lead when Manchester’s Cameron Critchlow was sin binned for cross-checking.
Whilst a goal was scored during the two-minute penalty, it was not by the Stars on their man advantage but instead by Matt Ginn’s penalty killing unit as Samuel Tremblay and Tyler Hinam won the puck back on their blueline and broke forward, where Hinam managed to get a shot off that would beat Brine, via the underside of the crossbar in the 29th minute.
The match then fell back into the constant battle of winning every puck as each side searched for the next advantage and crucially for Dundee it went their way as Spencer Naas lifted home the rebound from Brendan Harms’ saved effort to restore their lead after 37 minutes.
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All images: Storm Images.
