Capitals cut down as Stars sparkle

DUNDEE Stars recorded a 3-2 win over Edinburgh Capitals in the friendly fixture at Dundee Ice Arena last night.

The home side went into the game minus Patrick Lee, Marc-Oliver Mimar and Chris Lawrence, who are awaiting their visas. Jimmy Jensen made his home debut for the club.

Stars took the initiative early on and went ahead on six minutes with a powerplay goal from Jensen after Capitals’ Igor Valeyev was awarded two minutes for hooking. Four minutes later, the visitors drew level, also on the powerplay, when Marek Tyrdon scored after Jensen was penalised for roughing.

Capitals had greater possession in the middle session but it was Dundee who took their chances. They went ahead after 27 minutes when a shot from the blueline from Riley Stadel was tipped in by Adam Harding to make it 2-1.

Three minutes l ater, Gabriel Levesque fired an excellent drive past Shegalo in the Edinburgh nets for a 3-1 advantage going into the final period.

Stars replaced Fullerton in the nets by sending on back-up goaltender Craig Holland for the remainder of the game.

Capitals pressed the home goal in the third but Holland was in good form to repel all that was thrown at him.

That was until the 56th minute when Stars’ Cameron McGiffin was given a two-minute minor for tripping and Sergei Banashkov netted to bring the game back to 3-2.

Stars held out for the win and, although it was only the third game of the season, there were many indications the team are starting to gel and they played some good, fast hockey.

Coach Omar Pacha said after the game: “The main thing from tonight was I felt everyone worked hard. I don’t think we came out very strong in the first period but, after the first five or six minutes, we got things going. We netted two vital goals in the second period although they had more of the chance. However, we picked it up and won.

“We scored three good goals, the first one from the powerplay, and that was something practised this week. The goals were nice and I was happy to get three — three from players there to score — so now we look ahead to the next game.”