BELFAST GIANTS 2 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 3
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars beat Belfast Giants for the second straight match as they took a 3-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes of the game and held on to defeat the Elite League leaders in Northern Ireland, on Saturday night.
By Kris Smith
The Stars got off to a flying start as they capitalised quickly on an early powerplay after the Giants had been caught with too many men on the ice, which put them down a skater for up to two minutes.
However, it only took 47 seconds before Spencer Naas had put the puck in the back of the net as he fired Philippe Sanche’s pass from behind the goal, into the top left corner of Jackson Whistles goal and with only six minutes gone off the clock.
Just two minutes later, Naas would find the back of the net again and this time he broke forward after catching the loose rebound from a shot blocked by Kyle Pouncy in the Dundee end.
The American then raced towards goal and slung the puck into the roof of the Belfast net, but the Stars did not look content with an early 2-0 lead and continued to press the home team back into their own half.
In the 13th minute, Pouncy then picked up his second point of the night by adding his own name to the scoresheet to make it 3-0 to the Taysiders and he had all the time in the world to shoot past Whistle, after the Giants overcommitted to a press on the left-hand side of the offensive zone – allowing Harms to spring the puck out and across for the unmarked defender.
Adam Keefe then called a timeout to sort his side out and it did settle them down as Belfast stopped leaking goals and even pulled one back after 17 minutes, when they scored a powerplay goal of their own.
With the Stars also being punished for having an extra skater on the ice, David Goodwin would switch a pass from right to left and Gabe Bast shot past Jarrett Fiske in the Dundee goal to close the gap to two.
The Stars were still 3-1 in front to begin the second period and got another powerplay chance as the Giants were called again for too-many men on 22 minutes, but this time they kept the visitors out.
Although, Bast would also bag his brace on the night as he found the back of the Dundee net again after 27 minutes, with an easy finish all that was needed after Fiske made a kick save on Scott Conway’s slapshot from the left flank and that sprung the puck into the path of the onrushing Bast.
The two teams then locked down their defences and battled out a stalemate for the rest of the middle period, with Marc LeFebvre’s men still holding a 3-2 advantage as they headed to the third period.
There would be no scoring in the final 20 minutes and that is mostly down to Fiske, who saved all 33 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes as the Giants threw everything at finding an equaliser.
Despite having a four-minute powerplay as Dundee’s Alex Robert was punished with a double minor for high sticks, the home team failed to find another way past the American goalie and the Stars defence.
The final few moments were tense as Belfast piled on the pressure and opted for an empty net so they could get an extra attacker on but Dundee stood firm and cleared their lines whenever, Fiske did not kill the play with a smart glove save or cover up.
The Stars now move 42 points and remain seven points ahead of their next opponents, Manchester Storm as the English outfit come to Dundee on Sunday for their final regular season clash with the Taysiders, in what is a must win for the Stars if they hope to kill of Manchester’s hopes of coming back to snatch a playoff spot.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #18 Spencer Naas
Belfast: #42 Gabe Bast
Goals
1st:
0-1 Spencer Naas (Philippe Sanche, Brendan Harms) 06:08 PPG
0-2 Spencer Naas (Kyle Pouncy) 07:57
0-3 Kyle Pouncy (Brendan Harms, Spencer Naas) 12:23
1-3 Gabe Bast (David Goodwin, Scott Conway) 17:42 PPG
2nd:
2-3 Gabe Bast (Scott Conway, Bo Hanson) 27:44
3rd:
All images: William Cherry/Presseye.
