TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 3 COVENTRY BLAZE 4 SO
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars held a two-goal lead twice but would fail to make the most of it as Coventry Blaze came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 after a shootout.
By Kris Smith
Last night, Dundee were missing four imports as Alex Tonge, Brogan O’Brien, Jake Elmer and Kameron Kielly all remained sidelined through injury but the point gained against the Blaze leaves the Stars still in sixth place with 11 points from 13 games.
Brett Gravelle would fire Dundee ahead on four minutes as he buried Keanu Yamamoto’s pass from behind the goal, straight past goalie Mat Robson and just 39 seconds after the restart, Brendan Harms tipped home a second goal.
The Canadian was skating towards the net when he deflected Kyle Pouncy’s effort on goal, up and over the shoulder of Robson, however 10 seconds later the Blaze would pull it back to 2-1 as Nick Seitz crashed towards the Dundee goal and tucked home a loose rebound.
The Stars held their narrow lead going into the second period and would score the only goal of the middle frame as Philippe Sanche backhanded the puck towards goal after being fouled by Coventry’s Mike Kennedy but the shot would take a bounce off a defender’s skate in front and deflect the puck under Robson inside 36 minutes.
In the third period, Kevin Moore’s men made a big push for a comeback and Seitz would lift home his second goal of the night in the 46th minute before Terrance Amorosa tied the game up with just under five minutes left on the clock.
There would be no winner found in the final minute and nor would overtime produce a winner, so a shootout was required and Dundee would go first but after Robson sent Zach Tsekos’ shot skyward it dropped back down behind him and the Blaze goalie quickly swept it away from the goal line.
After a video review, it was confirmed Tsekos’ effort did not go in and Coventry’s first shooter, Alessio Luciani would also be denied before Yamamoto and Seitz would both convert in the second round.
In the third round of shots, both Gravelle and Michael Regush would fail to score before Sanche and Chase Gresock each found the back of the net to pile the pressure on the final round of shooters.
Domenic Alberga would be up first but Robson denied his effort to set Kim Tallberg up to take the potential game winning shot and the Blaze forward skated in at speed on Richard Sabol, then buried his shot into the back of the net to complete Coventry’s comeback.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #20 Keanu Yamamoto
Coventry: #64 Brandon Alderson
Goals
1st:
1-0 Brett Gravelle (Keanu Yamamoto, Kris Inglis) 04:12
2-0 Brendan Harms (Kyle Pouncy, Zach Tsekos) 04:51
2-1 Nick Seitz (Grayson Constable, Alessio Luciani) 05:01
2nd:
3-1 Philippe Sanche (Ben O’Connor, Keanu Yamamoto) 35:10
3rd:
3-2 Nick Seitz (Terrance Amorosa) 45:20
3-3 Terrance Amorosa (Mike Kennedy) 55:06
OT:
SO:
3-4 Kim Tallberg (Unassisted) 65:00 PS
Shootout
Round 1
Dundee: Zach Tsekos – Saved
Coventry: Alessio Luciani – Saved
Round 2
Dundee: Keanu Yamamoto – Goal
Coventry: Nick Seitz – Goal
Round 3
Dundee: Brett Gravlle – Saved
Coventry: Michael Regush – Miss
Round 4
Dundee: Philippe Sanche – Goal
Coventry: Chase Gresock – Goal
Round 5
Dundee: Domenic Alberga – Saved
Coventry: Kim Tallberg – Goal
All images: Derek Black.
