TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 2 NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS 1
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars claimed their second straight victory over Nottingham Panthers as they defeated the English club for the second time in a week.
By Kris Smith
The Stars were missing three players from their line-up on Saturday night as Brogan O’Brien and Xavier Pouliot were still sidelined through injury and new arrival, Philippe Sanche was still awaiting his international clearance and the Panthers arrived in Dundee hungry to put on a better display after suffering defeat at the hands of the Taysiders last week.
The opening period would be scoreless as both teams took the action from end-to-end in search of the first goal but both goaltenders started the match off in fine form.
In the second session, Nottingham found themselves a man down after just 69 seconds as Otto Nieminen’s penalty for holding Dundee’s Kris Inglis put the home team on a powerplay and they would cash in for the lead.
Stars captain, Drydn Dow worked the puck across the blueline and sent a pass across to Zach Tsekos, who then fired a long-range wrist shot that flew straight past Rok Stojanovic on 22 minutes.
The Stars then doubled their lead two minutes later as Dow turned from provider to scorer after skating behind the net and tucking the puck in at the far post on his backhand.
As Dundee took a chokehold of the match, the Panthers hit them with a quick counter and pulled one back in the 27th minute as Reid Stefanson batted the puck past Richard Sabol to make it 2-1.
The game then fell back into a tense battle and after killing off two penalties Dundee still led by one at the end of the second but the atmosphere in the third period would be on a knife edge as each side pushed hard for a decisive goal.
With neither side able to find the back of the net, it all came down to the dying minutes as Nottingham emptied their net for the extra attacker but the Stars defended their net well and eventually got the puck out of the zone.
As Tsekos chased down the loose puck to shoot into an empty net, he would be tripped up by Matt Alfaro and that penalty killed any hopes of the Panthers finding an equaliser.
Dundee claimed another big win to take their league tally to six points and three wins from their first six games but they now switch back into Challenge Cup mode for a must-win battle in Kirkcaldy against Fife Flyers on Sunday.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #36 Richard Sabol
Nottingham: #19 Reid Stefanson
Goals
1st:
2nd:
1-0 Zach Tsekos (Drydn Dow, Jake Elmer) 22:01 PPG
2-0 Drydn Dow (Brendan Harms, Jake Elmer) 24:37
2-1 Reid Stefanson (Oliver Betteridge) 26:23
3rd:
All images: Derek Black.
