Dundee Stars ended their winning streak at five games last night as they went down 5-4 to Coventry Blaze in overtime but picked up three points over the weekend towards their play-off push.
Last night Stars took the lead through Charles Corcoran after six minutes. The American forward was picked out in the slot by Mike Sullivan and despite his first effort being blocked, he easily tucked the second shot past Matt Hackett.
With Omar Pacha’s Stars down to four skaters, with Shawn Boutin in the sin bin for holding, Ben Lake punished Dundee with a quick shot into the top left corner in the 16th minute.
Matt Marquardt restored Stars’ lead two minutes later with a hard shot from the right wing that was hit first time after a smooth pass from Connor Cox.
Following a dominant period by the Blaze, Dundee stood firm to protect their lead and almost extended it but a flashy glove save from Hackett kept out a rocket shot from Drydn Dow.
Boutin returned to the box for hooking at the halfway mark and Blaze took full advantage. Ben Lake bagged his second of the night when he turned in a hard slapshot from Chris Joyaux after 34 minutes.
Danny Stewart’s side quickly took the lead as Lake got on the end of a lofted pass and cut it back to Shawn Pauly. He dragged the puck away from Pontus Sjogren and slid it home on the 37-minute mark.
Dundee immediately went on the attack and pressed for an equaliser which came 88 seconds later. Marquardt drilled a shot at Hackett from the left side and the rebound popped out to the waiting Lukas Lundvald who shot past two defenders to tie the game.
Pacha’s men made a fantastic start to the third period as Corcoran pressured a Blaze player into a turnover. He skated from behind the Coventry goal around to the front and fired a low shot under Hackett to put Dundee back in the lead.
The Taysiders’ discipline did not improve as Marquardt was called for a slashing infraction in the 43rd minute but their strong defence held off the Blaze for two minutes.
Coventry had their best chance to tie the game 13 minutes later when Fabrizio Ricci headed to the sin bin, but Stars saw out the powerplay before Stewart went all out in the final minute and swapped his keeper for an extra attacker.
It paid off for the West Midlands side as with only 35 seconds left in the game, Tim Crowder netted the equaliser. Joyaux had fired a shot in that hit the skates of Crowder but the forward quickly controlled the puck and tucked it under Sjögren.
Overtime was required but it did not end well for Stars. Seven seconds in, Marquardt picked up a slashing penalty and 21 seconds later the Blaze won the game. Justin Hache’s slapshot flew into the bottom right corner of the Dundee goal to claim the extra point for Coventry.
On Saturday, Dundee were victorious for a fifth consecutive game as they skated to a 3-1 victory over Manchester Storm at the DIA.
Craig Garrigan scored his third professional goal to give Dundee the lead in the first period.
Brian Hart doubled Stars’ lead in the middle stanza with a powerplay goal before they were pegged back in the final session when Dane Byers scored.
Another powerplay strike came late in the game as Fabrizio Ricci’s goal sealed the win.
