TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 4 MANCHESTER STORM 5
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars made a third period comeback attempt but came up a goal short against Manchester Storm in their opening Elite League fixture.
By Kris Smith
The Stars got off to a quick start and after having multiple attempts on the Manchester goal inside the first 60 seconds, they broke through in in the second minute as Jonathan McBean turned home Domenic Alberga’s cross-goal pass.
Dundee would continue to pile the pressure on the Storm net but goaltender, Evan Weninger was able to turn their efforts away and four minutes later, the Storm would capitalise on a broken play to tie the game.
Manchester’s Stephen Johnson shovelled a pass towards the Stars net but Dundee keeper, Richard Sabol poked the puck away and sent it flying in the air, where it would be caught by Alex Robert, who brought it down and instantly fired a shot over Sabol’s shoulder.
The match then became a scrappy battle for possession as Mike Flanagan’s side began to find their footing and just as the first period was coming to a close, Grant Herbet would put the English club ahead as he went clean through on goal and stuck his shot in via the post.
In the second session, Craig Martin would fire into the top right corner of the Dundee goal on 22 minutes, to extend the Storms lead to 3-1 and at the halfway mark, Johnson would add a fourth goal for Manchester as he lifted the puck into the arm of Sabol at his near post and the keeper would not be able to hold it as it dropped behind him and into the goal.
The Stars needed a response to stop the bleeding and thankfully for Marc LeFebvre it came via a powerplay goal in the 34th minute as Zach Tsekos buried a shot from close range to make it 4-2.
Although, Manchester would hit back to restore their three-goal cushion just a few minutes later as Jake Durflinger capitalised on a loose rebound in front of the Taysiders net and lifted a shot over a pile of bodies and into the net.
The home side had hit 38 shots on target through the first two periods but were struggling to beat Weninger and they would test him with 19 more shots in the third period, two of which would find their way into the back of the net.
In the 49th minute, Alex Tonge would smack a first-time shot off the underside of the crossbar and in to reduce the lead to two and shortly after, the Stars thought they had cut it to one as Kyle Pouncy’s slapshot was saved but the rebound would be turned in by Tsekos.
However, the goal would be disallowed due to a kicking motion from Tsekos as he redirected the puck towards the net with his skate, but Dundee did find a fourth goal soon after as Jake Elmer flew down the right wing and unleashed a rapid effort that beat Weninger at his near post.
That gave the Stars the chance they needed to gamble for an equaliser as they pulled Sabol from the net with 90 seconds left and utilised their timeout but the Storm would hold on to claim both points.
Dundee now return their focus to the Challenge Cup Group Stage with another run of four matches in Group B coming up and on Sunday, they will meet Belfast Giants for a third time, with the aim of improving on a point-gained in their last clash.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #98 Jake Elmer
Manchester: #27 C.J. Garcia
Goals
1st:
1-0 Jonathan McBean (Domenic Alberga, Jake Elmer) 01:08
1-1 Alex Robert (Stephen Johnson, C.J. Garcia) 05:08
1-2 Grant Hebert (Joe Morrow) 18:15
2nd:
1-3 Craig Martin (Joe Morrow, Alexis D’Aoust) 22:24
1-4 Stephen Johnson (Alex Robert, Gianluca Estevez) 29:54
2-4 Zach Tsekos (Domenic Alberga) 33:29 PPG
2-5 Jake Durflinger (Alexis D’Aoust) 37:25
3rd:
3-5 Alex Tonge (Zach Tsekos, Brendan Harms) 48:13
4-5 Jake Elmer (Drydn Dow, Domenic Alberga) 51:52
All images: Derek Black.
