By Kris Smith
The Stars were still missing their injured trio of Kevin Carr, Craig Garrigan and Tommy Parrottino but regained defender, Chris McKay after he served his one-game suspension and slotted back in on defence with Craig Moore moving up to the offensive unit again.
The opening minutes were an exact statement of what was to come over the next 20 minutes as a hard-hitting and highly offensive battle broke out and after only 51 seconds, Dundee blueliner Kris Inglis was penalised for roughing up Flames forward, Matt Alvaro after he laid dangerous hit on James Phelan into the boards.
Guildford tested netminder, Lucas Brine with a few efforts during their man advantage but failed to make the chance count, as did the Stars with their two powerplays later in the first session but they came a lot closer to taking the lead than their opponents.
Ryan Valentini would see his breakaway chance stopped by Taz Burman in the Flames net, before the Elite League’s leading goal scorer, Spencer Naas fired a shot off the Canadian’s helmet and Carter Johnson was unfortunate to not see his wraparound attempt land in the back of the net.
The two sides were still stuck in a stalemate at the first intermission with plenty sparks of feistiness flying between the two sets of players in what was a massive must-win game for both teams.
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All images: Derek Black.
