By Kris Smith
The Stars made one change from their winning line-up in Glasgow as Tommy Parrottino came back in for the injured Josh Brittain and netminder, Kevin Carr kept his place between the pipes after a 31-save performance in his first game back after being sidelined with a lower-body injury for six games.
In typical playoff style, it was a fast-paced and physical battle right from the start as both teams pushed hard for an early advantage but Dundee were able to make Storm goalie, Evan Weninger the busier of the two.
Matt Ginn then lost his top scorer against Dundee, Tyler Hinam through injury as he left the ice after a hard collision against the boards in the fourth minute but that did not stop the visitors from taking the lead two minutes later as Austin Farley scored on a powerplay.
Stars forward, Carter Johnson was sent to the sin bin for interference and just 25 seconds into the powerplay Farley latched onto a loose rebound and lifted it past the diving Carr, after he made a number of big saves in the build-up.
The home team then made a big push for an equaliser but were continually stonewalled by Weninger whenever they got forward and Manchester put on an impressive penalty kill after Callum Fryer was called for hooking Dundee’s Anthony Rinaldi as he flew past and towards the Storm goal.
The Storm were pinned in their own end for a majority of the kill and were struggling to get a line change but their defence made block after block and Weninger backed them up with saves when needed.
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All images: Derek Black.
