Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Stars sixth after winning weekend
DUNDEE Stars completed a four-point weekend with a 4-1 win over Manchester Storm at home on Saturday night to move into sixth place in the Elite Ice Hockey League.
Stars made one change from their winning line-up in Glasgow the previous night, with Tommy Parrottino back in for the injured Josh Brittain.
Netminder Kevin Carr kept his place between the pipes after a 31-save performance in his first game back after being sidelined with a lower-body injury for six games.
Saturday’s clash was a fast-paced and physical battle right from the start as both teams pushed for an early advantage, but Dundee were able to make Storm goalie Evan Weninger the busier of the two.
Storm coach Matt Ginn lost his top scorer against Dundee, Tyler Hinam, through injury as he left the ice after a hard collision against the boards in the fourth minute, but that did not stop the visitors from taking the lead two minutes later as Austin
Farley scored on a powerplay. Stars forward Carter Johnson was sent to the sin bin for interference and, just 25 seconds into the powerplay, Farley latched on to a loose rebound and lifted it past the diving Carr.
The home team pushed for an equaliser but were continually stonewalled by Weninger whenever they got forward and Manchester put on an impressive penalty kill after Callum Fryer was called for hooking Dundee’s Anthony Rinaldi as he flew towards the Storm goal.
Storm were pinned in their own end but their defence made block after block and Weninger backed them up with saves when needed.
The Taysiders eventually equalised when Brendan Harms passed the puck out in front from behind the net and, after Spencer Naas saw his effort saved, Ryan Valentini blasted home the rebound on 17 minutes.
In the second period, Dundee made a change in net as Carr was replaced by Lucas Brine and he did well to repel the Storm’s first few shots.
In fact Brine kept the visitors out for the entire second period as his defence limited Storm to only a couple of shots on target before giving the home crowd a huge boost with another late goal.
After failing to cash in on another powerplay, Dundee took the lead inside 38 minutes as Johnson tipped Xavier Pouliot’s shot past Weninger from the edge of the crease.
Storm took another penalty late in the middle period and did well to stop the Stars from doubling their advantage.
However, in the third period, the home side took control as Manchester continued to put themselves on the back foot with poor discipline.
Rinaldi converted a breakaway in the 53rd minute to put Dundee two goals clear after he was played in behind by Kyle Pouncy and easily beat Weninger.
Two minutes later, Elijah Vilio added a fourth goal for the hosts with a shot from the blueline to send the Stars crowd into elation as Marc LeFebvre’s men rounded off a perfect weekend.
Stars have moved up to sixth in the Elite League table with only three fixtures left. They face a trip to Cardiff Devils on Wednesday.