The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Short-handed Stars count the cost as they end weekend pointless
DUNDEE STARS: Defeats to Devils and the Panthers leave Pacha’s men looking to build for derbies
Stars suffered two defeats over the weekend as being short of bodies cost them dearly against two of the top three teams in the Elite League – Cardiff Devils and Nottingham Panthers.
Connor Cox, Lukas Lundvald and Matt Bissonnette were missing for Stars as they played their second game against the Panthers last night with just five defenders and Dundonian Craig Garrigan stepping in to fill the gap in the forward lines.
Referee Steve Brown quickly stamped his authority on the game by calling a slashing penalty against Dundee forward Matt Marquardt just seven seconds into the game. Brett Perlini was next to head to the sin bin for an interference penalty as Brown continued his no-nonsense approach inside the opening two minutes.
Nottingham opened the scoring through Dylan Richard after he redirected Guillaume Lepine’s shot past Sjögren in the eighth minute.
However, Stars responded well and had a few good chances to draw level, the best coming from Jordan Cownie but his first effort was blocked by Dylan Olsen before his second was deflected.
A quick break by Stars in the final minutes of the first period almost saw them equalise. Cownie, François Bouchard and Charles Corcoran combined but after Michael Garnett made one stop, he came up with another to keep out Bouchard’s shot. With 27 seconds left on the clock, Tim Billingsley doubled the visitors’ lead. He received a pass right in front of the Dundee goal and slid it under Sjögren.
Both teams had chances in the first half of the period but there were no real scoring opportunities until Fabrizio Ricci broke through into the Panthers zone but his shot was tipped wide by the top of Garnett’s glove.
Dundee had a second chance on the powerplay as Robert Lachowicz was penalised for slashing in the 30th minute. Defenceman Mike Sullivan rattled his shot off the Nottingham post early into the powerplay but that was as close as they came to scoring.
In the 33rd minute, Alex Guptill was caught with his stick in a dangerous position and that left Rich Chernomaz’s men a man short again. With seconds left on the powerplay, Panthers iced the puck and Sjögren readied himself to play it but the puck bounced over his stick and luckily for Stars wide of their goal.
It was almost 3-0 to the away team as a goalmouth scramble occurred in front of Sjögren. One shot eventually got past the Swede but it was quickly batted off the line by a Dundee player and after a quick review by the referees it remained 2-0 to the Nottinghamshire outfit.
In the third period Stars slowly began to dictate the play, but Nottingham went 3-0 ahead when Luke Pither popped his shot over the shoulder of Sjögren in the 54th minute.
Guptill was almost through on the Stars’ goal in the closing minutes, but the chance was taken away from him by defenceman Drydn Dow inside final minutes. Time ran out before Dundee could beat Garnett and that left them pointless for the first time in five weeks.
Omar Pacha must now prepare his side for another double header derby with their biggest rivals, Fife Flyers. Dundee play host on Boxing Day before heading to Kirkcaldy on Thursday.
On Saturday, Stars went down 4-2 to Cardiff Devils in the Welsh capital.
The Devils went 3-0 up through Joey Haddad, Jake Morissette and Matt Pope before the Stars hit back through Charles Corcoran and Francois Bouchard.
Joey Martin sealed the victory for Cardiff.
And on the same night Fife Flyers were defeated 3-2 by Glasgow Clan, Joe Basaraba netting twice for the Kirkcaldy men either side of goals from Rasmus Bjerrum (2) and Scott Tansey.