Stars up to sixth after blazing past Coventry

ICE HOCKEY: Dundee put five past hosts to make up for surprise loss to MK

COVENTRY BLAZE 2 DUNDEE STARS 5

Dundee Stars’ recent resurgence continued at the weekend as they climbed to sixth place in the Elite League after winning two of their three matches in England.

A 5-2 win over Coventry Blaze last night came on the back of a surprise 3-0 loss to bottom club Milton Keynes Lightning. On Friday Omar Pacha’s men had won 4-3 in overtime against Nottingham Panthers.

Stars can now look forward to a full week’s rest before their next game. With 17 points from the last 20, they will aim to build on their good form and continue their surge up the league.

Last night Blaze opened the scoring through Ross Venus after he used his team-mate Dillon Lawrence to block the vision of the Stars goalie, firing a shot past Pontus Sjögren high on his glove side after the two-minute mark.

Jordan cow niecamec lose for stars and Lukas Lundvald and Brian Hart created another scoring opportunity.

Coventry could have doubled their lead when Luke Ferrara sent a pass to Kevin Morris but Shawn Boutin quickly intercepted and cleared away the chance.

The Tayside team were creating the better chances but still trailed 1-0 going into the first break.

Dundee were given their first chance on the powerplay after 56 seconds of the second period. Morris was boxed for hooking but Stars could not take advantage with the extra man.

Minutes later there was a crucial double save from Sjögren as he denied Alex Nikiforuk one-on-one before Morris shot straight at the keeper who was down on the ice.

But Boutin converted a turnover from Coventry into a scoring chance. His pass down the ice sent Lundvald in on a break away and he skated around miro slav Kopriva to tie the game after 27 minutes.

On the halfway mark ni k if oruk restored the home side’s lead after beating Sjögren through his legs.

Venus was denied a second goal after he got in one-on-one but his back handed shot struck the crossbar before landing back between the legs of Sjögren in the 32nd minute.

Charles Corcoran tied the score in the 35th minute after Francois Bouchard squared a pass to the American and he used Petr Chaloupka to block the goalie’s vision before shooting high into the Blaze net. with less than two minutes togo in the middle period Dundee took a 3-2 lead as Boutin’s shot was redirected past Kopriva by Matt Bissonnette.

The third period began with Hart heading to the box for cross-checking after just 47 seconds of play but Dundee again killed off the Blaze’s powerplay opportunity.

Coventry’s Justin Hache fired a quick and strong slapshot but a flashy glove save by Sjögren kept Dundee in front.

With under three minutes left to play, Danny Stewart replaced Kopriva with an extra skater but it did not take long before Fabrizio Ricci scored into the empty net while shorthanded in the 58th minute.

A ga ink op riva was pulled andbouc hard made it 5-2 to Dundee with 62 seconds remaining to seal the two points for Stars.

Picture: Derek Black. Charles Corcoran, left, was on the mark for Dundee in their win over Coventry Blaze.