The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Stars, Flyers sing the Sunday blues
Dundee Stars’ hopes of a fourth straight victory were dashed last night after Omar Pacha’s men were beaten 3-1 away to Sheffield Steelers.
Stars had enjoyed a fine 4-1 win over Nottingham Panthers on home ice on Saturday thanks to goals from Sebastian Bengtsson (2), Philippe Sanche and Spencer Dorowicz.
They had hoped to build on their recent run of fine form but crashed in Sheffield 24 hours later.
The deadlock was broken in the 16th minute after Dundee took some early penalties.
With both Craig Moore and Connor Sills in the sin bin for minor fouls, the Steelers used their twoman advantage to open the scoring and it came via the slapshot of Evan Mosey from the right wing.
Aaron Fox’s side maintained their narrow lead until the first intermission and would go on to quickly double it in the second period. Martin Latal got in behind the Stars defence and he forced netminder Adam Morrison to be indecisive as he moved the puck between his forehand and backhand.
Eventually Steelers’ leading goalscorer slotted the puck underneath the Dundee goalie from pointblank range on 24 minutes.
Pacha’s men had several key chances to get off the mark but luck did not seem to be on their side until they were gifted a goal by Sheffield goalkeeper Rok Stojanovic.
Stars pressed for an equaliser but it would not come and Steelers added a third when Tanner Eberle’s shot bounced off the chest of Morrison and over his shoulder before dropping into the Dundee goal.
Fife Flyers’ dismal weekend ended last night with a second defeat in 24 hours as Nottingham Panthers emerged with the points in a 4-2 win at Fife Ice Arena.
That’s despite Fife, who were beaten 3-0 at home by Belfast Giants on Saturday, starting well with leading points scorer Michael Mcnicholas netting the opener after eight minutes.
Panthers – who had beaten Glasgow Clan 4-1 on Friday before losing to Stars – responded with two quick goals through Mathieu Tousignant and Matthew Myers to move ahead.
Simon Suoranta scored number three with a wrist shot in the 22nd minute and Myers claimed his second and Panthers’ fourth in the 45th minute, which ended the contest.
Fife netted a consolation with less than four minutes left when Mcnicholas scored his second on the power play.