By Kris Smith
The Stars also welcome the Manchester Storm on Saturday night, they previously met down in Altrincham, where the Storm came back from being down 3-0 to win the game on penalty shots.
Ex-Storm players Adam Harding and Taylor Dickin combined to give the Stars a 2-0 in the opening 15 minutes. Marc-Olivier Mimar increased the lead to 3-0, 12 seconds before the end of the first period.
Scott Pitt, Luke Moffat and Mike Hammond levelled the score for the home side, Dundee could not restore their lead before regulation and additional time expired and were defeated by Ciaran Long’s penalty shot, which was the only one to find the net.
Dundee lost their chance to claim a four point weekend when they suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Belfast Giants. Adam Keefe’s men took a 2-0 lead in the opening period before doubling up and conceding one goal in the middle stanza, Riley Stadel was the goal scorer for Dundee with a one-timer on the powerplay. Both sides grabbed a goal each in the third period with Brian Hart replicating his home debut goal as he went five-hole on Jackson Whistle after breaking away from the Giants defence.
Jimmy Jensen also failed to tuck away a penalty shot whilst shorthanded in the final period. Malcolm Gould and Colin Shields picked up the ‘Man of the Match’ awards, Shields bagged two of the Irish side’s goals and an assist. Sébastien Sylvestre, Brendan Connolly and Steve Saviano scored the rest of Belfast’s goals.
Manchester still remain top of the Elite League table despite losing their last match against the Milton Keynes Lightening. Jay Rosehill got the Storm on the board in the second period after falling 2-0 behind in the opening stanza. The Lightning restored their two goal lead but Scott Pitt pulled one back for Ryan Finnerty’s side, although the Buckinghamshire side held out for the 3-2 victory.
The Storm had swept aside the Edinburgh Capitals the night before, the Caps were without their starting goalie, Pavel Shegalo, who was banned for two matches by the Department of Player Safety. Manchester put three goals past the Caps in the opening period, but the road team limited the surging Storm to just one goal in the second period before giving up five goals in the final third of the game.
Mike Clemente has won 11 of the 18 games he has played in and has conceded 49 goals. He has made 452 saves in those 18 games and achieved one shutout so far this season.
Ex-Storm forward, Taylor Dickin, said: “We feel good about our chances this weekend with two big home games, we have put together a few good weekends here in a row and we are looking to continue that.
“Manchester, we know are a big physical team that comes hard every shift and we are going to have to match that intensity if we want to come away with 2 points.”
Face-off is at 7pm, with tickets still available from the DIA box office and online.
