The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Stars see double as the Giants laid low
Dundee Stars made it two on the bounce with back to back Challenge Cup victories in a triple header weekend.
Omar Pacha’s men beat Belfast Giants 4-2 last night on home ice – 24 hours after thrashing rivals Fife Flyers 6-1.
An early powerplay allowed Charlie Combs to blast home Michael Poirier’s past from the left flank and send the Stars into an early lead.
Combs then netted his second of the evening with an accurate shot into the top corner of Jackson Whistle’s net.
There was then a massive momentum swing in the match as it reached the halfway point.
With Dundee a man down after Timi Lahtinen was punished for slashing, David Goodwin finally got the Giants off the mark.
The American forced a glove save from Morrison before chasing up the spilled rebound and driving the puck home at the right post.
However, with less than four minutes to play in the second period, Ruopp fired a long shot through traffic from the blueline and an unsighted Morrison was unable to stop it from hitting the twine.
After more missed powerplay chances by both sides, the closest Adam Keefe’s Belfast side came to going in front for the first time of the night was when Ruopp’s long-range effort rung off the post of the Stars goalframe on 50 minutes.
There would be a late and game-deciding goal in the 58th minute and it went the way of the home side, as Lahtinen broke down the left wing and beat Whistle over his left shoulder.
With Dundee’s lead restored, the Giants went all out and emptied their net in exchange for an extra attacker. That then allowed
Dillon Lawrence to control a misplaced pass and send himself forward before finishing into a gaping goal with a minute left to play.
The Stars held on to claim a second straight win and it put them two points behind the Giants in Group A of the Challenge Cup.
Meanwhile Stars rattled Fife on Saturday with three second-period goals and grabbed another three in the final session in front of a crowd of 1,565.
Seb Bengtsson broke the deadlock with a powerplay goal after 28 minutes and Timi Lahtinen claimed a second three minutes later.
Dillon Lawrence silenced home fans with a third 52 seconds from the end of the session.
It got worse when Philippe Sanche netted a fourth two minutes into the final period with Erik Naslund in the sin bin for a two minute high-stick penalty.
Michael McNicolas opened Fife’s account in 47 minutes but another powerplay goal arrived for Stars after 50 minutes through Spencer Dorowicz.
The visitors netted their final strike 46 seconds from time through Sanche.
Fife were then beaten 5-1 by Cardiff Devils on the road last night.
Devils opened the scoring after six minutes when Brodie Reid netted and it was 2-0 six minutes later when Joshua Waller converted.
Flyers hit back when Greg Chase scored two minutes later assisted by Carson Stadnyk but it turned out to be their only joy on a difficult night.
Josh Lammon made it 3-1 after 36 minutes and it became 4-1 just over a minute later when Brodie Reid found the net.
After 51 minutes it was 5-1 when Cole Stanford converted and that completed the scoring on another difficult night for coach Todd Dutiaume and his new-look squad.