By Kris Smith
The Stars were beaten 6-3 in Kirkcaldy last night as they were made to wait for their first victory in the cup group stage.
Dundee had soared into a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period thanks to a deflected goal from Spencer Naas on two minutes, a backhanded effort from Ryan Valentini inside 13 minutes and a batted-in strike from Anthony Rinaldi with 10 seconds left on the clock.
However, the Flyers would eat into that lead in the second session with Troy Lajeunesse unintentionally sending a rebound into the Stars net on 25 minutes, whilst on the powerplay and former Star, Johan Eriksson was gifted a gaping goal to make it 3-2 at the halfway-mark.
In the third period, the home side would continue their comeback and storm into the lead, as Kyle Osterberg’s shot snuck over the leg of Kevin Carr after 45 minutes, then 30 seconds later Teemu Pulkkinen fired home to give the Flyers the lead.
In the 47th minute, Collin Shirley was then able to tuck in a spilled rebound as it lay inviting in the Dundee goal crease and Eriksson would net his second and the team’s second powerplay goal of the night as he blasted past Carr from the left circle on 53 minutes.
The Stars now have only three games left in the group stage and sit four points behind the second-place Flyers, so they must win all three remaining games to have good hopes of progressing to the Quarter-Final.
The only Dundee player who did not ice last night was forward, Johnny Walker who was sitting out the final game of his two-match suspension and he will return to the line-up this evening.
Speaking after last night’s match, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “It was a fantastic start, a fantastic first period then we just started playing selfish hockey.
“We wanted to play run and gun but we are just not built that way, the guys were thinking it was a point-night after the first period and we got out of our structure and they exposed us.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game is at 5pm and you can buy your tickets HERE!
All images: Derek Black.
