By Kris Smith
The Stars are in need of a bounce back performance following last night’s 7-3 away defeat at the hands of Cardiff Devils and they face a Flames side, also looking to get back in the win column.
Paul Dixon’s men were beaten 2-1 in Sheffield by the Steelers last night as Daniel Catenacci had given Guildford the lead but goaltender, Jake Kupsky was unable to stop the Yorkshire club from levelling and then winning the extra point with only nine seconds left in overtime.
Meanwhile in South Wales, the Stars found themselves 1-0 down after the first period as Bradley Schoonbaert turned home the rebound from Riley Brandt’s saved effort on 11 minutes.
Although, the Taysiders had their chances and tested Ben Bowns in the Cardiff goal but could not beat the Englishman until the 33rd minute, but by that point the home team had opened up a 3-0 lead.
Josh MacDonald got on the end of Joey Martin’s perfectly placed pass to the backdoor and finished easily past Jarrett Fiske to double their advantage just 58 seconds into the second session and on the Devils’ first powerplay of the night, Brett Perlini would convert inside 26 minutes.
However, Dundee then had their first chance on the man advantage and got off the mark as Spencer Naas’ shot would be stopped by Bowns but the Team GB netminder could not then stop Philippe Sanche from scoring on the rebound.
Marc LeFebvre’s men went into the final intermission still 3-1 down but again had their chances to cut into the Welsh club’s lead and in the third period, Cardiff took a choke hold of the game by adding two more quick goals.
Just two minutes after the restart, Tyler Busch would tip Cody Donaghey’s effort past Fiske for a second powerplay goal of the night for the Devils and then two minutes later, Josh MacDonald bagged his brace as he skated the puck past the Stars keeper.
However, tensions soon began to flare between both sides and after a huge pile of bodies came together for some roughing, Dundee came away with another powerplay and Keanu Yamamoto would pick the top corner of the Cardiff net to make it 5-2 in the 49th minute.
The physicality did not die down after that as Martin and Sanche then dropped the gloves just a minute later and Pete Russell’s side then found themselves a man down once more, allowing Drydn Dow to make it a hat-trick of powerplay goals for the Stars, as he converted from distance on 50 minutes.
At 5-3, Dundee were hungry for more and all the pressure went on to the Devils but they were able to keep the visitors out for the remainder of that match and found some breathing room again with a sixth goal in the 55th minute.
Benjamin Almquist would tap in a loose puck at the post before Donaghey then added his name to the scoresheet and Cardiff’s seventh on the night, to round off the scoring two minutes from time.
So far this season, the Stars have not yet beaten Guildford in regulation but they can close the current seven-point gap between themselves and the sixth-placed Flames.
Guildford have only one win to show from their previous five outings but have already beaten the Stars three times in five contests this season, with Dundee winning via a shootout on their first visit to the Spectrum Arena back in October.
Reflecting on last night’s loss in Cardiff, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “I thought we were okay in spurts but just not good enough at times tonight.
“I though we pushed back at times but every time we pushed we made a silly mistake or make a turnover or lose a one-on-one battle and it is in the back of our net.
“It seemed to be like that throughout the night and we had some good chances but again any time we made a mistake it cost us.”
Then discussing tonight’s battle with the Flames, he continued: “Well Guildford, you look at their home record and it is another difficult building to go into and despite, that we have had some success in there over the past two years and the only time we have lost in regulation was the last time we played there.
“Overall, we have had some good results in there and they are trying to improve themselves as a team and move up the standings as well.
“We know they are a tough team to play against because they carry a lot of speed and we need to find a way to nullify that and it is another building where you need to take the crowd out of it early and get on top of them.”
Face-off for tonight’s game in Guildford is at 6pm.
All images: John Uwins.
