By Kris Smith
The Stars currently hold sixth place in the Elite League standings and are three points behind Guildford but could have been in a place to overtake the Flames in the standing if they had won last night in Manchester.
Yesterday evening in Altrincham, Dundee were beaten 6-3 by Manchester Storm as they fell behind continually and failed to recover from a few early goals.
The home team took the lead inside just 33 seconds as Joe Morrow fired over the shoulder of Richard Sabol in the Dundee net but the Stars would find an equaliser in the sixth minute, when Ben O’Connor beat Even Weninger over his left shoulder.
However, the Storm would regain their lead after Jake Durflinger blasted home Ryan Hughes cross-ice pass to cash in on the powerplay, inside 17 minutes and Mike Flanagan’s men took their narrow lead into the first break.
In the second period and after a lengthy delay due to an issue with the ice resurfacer, Manchester again struck swiftly as they made a quick jump from the restart, with another powerplay goal and this time Alexis D’Aoust turned the puck past Sabol on 22 minutes.
The next goal would not come until the final minutes of the middle session and with Dundee on the powerplay, it would be again be the Storm who found the back of the net as Grant Hebert broke down the ice shorthanded and made it a 4-1 advantage.
Dundee needed the next goal to start the third period and to spark their hopes of a comeback but once more the hosts found the back of the net first and in the 45th minute, Durflinger made it a brace for himself.
Keanu Yamamoto would however pull one back for Dundee as he fired the puck past Weninger from close range after skating onto the pass from Brett Gravelle inside 52 minutes.
Gravelle then added his own name to the scoresheet and made it a three-point night for himself and Yamamoto as he cushioned down the rebound from Cole MacDonald’s shot and slotted the puck home to convert on a powerplay in the 59th minute.
With the score now at 5-3, Marc LeFebvre’s side threw everything forward and emptied their goal for the extra attacker but with 21 seconds left on the clock, Craig Martin shot into the vacant net to end the scoring at 6-3.
Meanwhile, the Flames have won four of their last five games, splitting last weekend’s results with a 3-1 away loss to Cardiff Devils and 2-1 home victory over Coventry Blaze.
Although, Paul Dixon’s men have yet to beat the Stars as their only previous meeting this season saw Dundee comeback from 4-1 down to win the match after penalties.
Charlie Dodero and Mike Crocock had the Surrey side ahead 2-0 before Kameron Kielly pulled the Stars back into it but second period strikes from Charlie Curti and Matt Alvaro gave the Flames a three-goal cushion.
However, Domenic Alberga’s goal sent the two teams into the third period with only a pair of goals separating them and inside the final 20 minutes, Zach Tsekos and Alex Tonge would manage to draw Dundee level, forcing overtime.
After no winner emerged in the extra period, the Taysiders would win the penalty shootout 3-0 after Elmer, Yamamoto and Alberga all found the back of the net and Jarrett Fiske denied all three of Guildford’s shooters.
Speaking after last night’s match, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “I thought we were pretty pathetic for the most part, we were not ready to play but I am the coach and I am responsible for that.
“At the end of the day, we have a lot of guys out of our line-up but we still have to compete and I thought Manchester competed all night and they wanted it more than we did.
“We had a bit of push back in the third period but it just was not good enough overall from start to finish.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game is at 7pm.
All images: John Uwins.
