The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Flyers and Stars celebrate memorable double over league leaders.
ICE HOCKEY: Coach Pacha pleased as short-handed goal makes the difference
SHEFFIELD STEELERS 2 DUNDEE STARS 5
Stars blew away the Elite League leaders on Saturday night as they put five goals past Steelers to claim two crucial points in their play-off push.
Stars head coach Omar Pacha said after the road win: “I am really happy for them. The boys were dialled in from the drop of the puck and we had a great week of practice.
“I think that is the best start we have had all year and I thought we were unlucky not to get something a bit earlier in that period.
“But as the game went on we built a bit of confidence in our game and we got the scoring we needed at crucial times with powerplay goals and the big short-handed goal probably was the big difference tonight.”
Dundee’s Kris Inglis made his return to action after being out since November and his side nearly had an early lead as Kevin Dufour and Anthony Beauregard combined after 10 seconds but the latter’s effort was blocked.
Sheffield had a chance at the other end as Anthony Deluca skated forward but Dundee netminder Alex Leclerc came up with a big double save.
Stars then tested Steelers keeper Tomas Duba with shots from different angles but the game remained scoreless.
However, Aaron Fox’s men went ahead on the first powerplay chance of the night when Marc-olivier Vallerand converted an Aaron Brocklehurst pass.
The next scoring opportunity fell to the Steelers’ Tanner Eberle as he forced a turnover, but Leclerc stuck with him and made a firm stop with his right leg.
Pacha’s men tied the game on 15 minutes as captain Matt Marquardt raced forward to keep the puck in the home team’s zone and released a low wrist shot that beat Duba to his right.
Stars came out for the second period with a good tempo and quickly got ahead as Jordan Cownie sent a pass across to the chasing Egils Kalns. The Latvian winger got there just in time to turn the puck up into the roof of the net in 23 minutes.
Sheffield came out looking for an equaliser but the Tayside side survived waves of attacks before creating more scoring chances of their own.
Duba came up with two big saves to deny Matt Carter and Beauregard but was beaten again in the 34th minute.
The Stars were a man down as Jagger Dirk served a two-minute penalty for slashing but Dufour and Beauregard found themselves in on goal with just one defender in their way.
Dufour’s first pass was blocked by Marek Troncincky but his second attempt found his line-mate and Beauregard quickly deflected the puck past the netminder to make it 3-1.
Steelers had a two-on-one situation with Brendan Connolly and Vallerand breaking into the Dundee zone. Connolly spun to avoid the sliding defender and found his team-mate but he failed to hit the target.
Stars forward Brett Stovin was the next to be denied as the puck slipped away from his stick at the last second.
Connolly earned a two-minute roughing minor penalty in the 39th minute and Stars took just five seconds of their man advantage to score.
Carter won possession for Dundee and the puck came back to Dirk, who sent a shot in that was saved by Duba. However Carter pounced on the rebound to tuck home their fourth goal.
Early in the final stanza, Stars had a three-on-one chance but Dufour saw his shot stopped by Duba.
Leclerc was forced to make a save from Deluca as Aaron Fox’s side created numerous chances but Dundee scrambled the danger clear.
After both teams hit penalty problems, Stars added a fifth goal to extend their lead to four.
Carter sent a pass across the face of goal to Colton Kroeker who fired a shot straight back past Duba on 52 minutes.
Steelers won a penalty shot after Reilly O’connor held Duluca back when he got in behind the defence in the 57th minute but the Canadian missed the net completely on his free shot.
The hosts did pull one back with less than two minutes to play as Troncinsky flicked in a shot at the far post but the final buzzer sounded to hand Dundee their first victory of the year against Sheffield and the club’s and Pacha’s second win at the FLYDSA Arena.
Stars, just a point behind Glasgow Clan and Manchester Storm, the teams occupying the final two play-off places, now have a week to prepare for their next game against Fife Flyers at Dundee Ice Arena on Saturday.
Fife, who had beaten Stars on home ice last weekend, added to Steelers’ misery last night with a 3-1 win in Kirkcaldy.
For Sheffield it was a fourth defeat in a row, including that 5-2 loss to the Stars.
Steelers still lead the way by three points from Cardiff Devils, but the Welsh side have four games in hand.