The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Great weekend for Stars as they see off rivals
Ice Hockey: Fife Flyers defeat Panthers to end losing streak
Dundee Stars had a chance to make it another four-point weekend last night when they faced Edinburgh Capitals 24 hours after defeating their oldest rivals, Fife Flyers, 4-3 in overtime.
Both goalkeepers were relied upon to make key saves early on, but the pressure was with Stars who went in front.
Marc-olivier Mimar and Jimmy Jensen quickly combined in front of the net and Jensen shot the puck past Capitals’ Tyler Beskorowany to give Dundee the lead at 12:44.
It was not long before the home team were back on the attack and they went 2-0 up when Chris Lawrence showed off his skills before releasing a wrist shot straight into the top corner of the net at 13:49.
After the restart, Mike Cazzola went to the penalty box for interference and a dominant Dundee powerplay unit bombarded Beskorowany with shots, but they settled down and a patient move set-up Mimar for an easy finish, after all five skates touched the puck, on 16:08.
Stars picked up where they left off in the second period and held the Caps in their own end. A bad giveaway let Sergei Banashkov get a shot away, although it went straight into the chest of Travis Fullerton.
Omar Pacha’s men were in full control and it took Caps 10 minutes into the second period before they set up an attack in the Dundee end.
Cazzola wheeled the puck around the net and passed to Pavel Vorobyev at the backdoor and the Kazakhstani player shot it into the gaping net with ease, getting his team off the mark at 31:01.
Pacha picked up a tripping penalty just after the halfway mark and once that had expired a speedy move by Caps was ended by Fullerton’s diving poke check.
Dundee quickly turned around and broke down the ice. Jordan Cownie fed the puck to Anthony Mastrodicasa and he fired a fast wrist shot across the body of Beskorowany and into the net at 34:04. Now ahead 4-1, Cownie picked up his third assist of the night.
A delayed penalty against Stars led to heavy pressure from Edinburgh and Fullerton made about seven or eight magnificent saves before the rebound fell to Caps’ extra attacker, Denis Trakhanov, who flicked a backhanded shot high into the top corner at 38:43.
Pacha wanted his side to put the game to bed in the third period but had a tough start as Edinburgh came out fast and quickly and gained a five-on-three powerplay as Cownie and Brian Hart headed to the penalty box.
The Lothian team pulled one back through Igor Valeyev at 44:52 but less than two minutes later Stars hit back through Lukas Lundvald Nielsen as he restored the two-goal cushion at 47:46. Malcolm Gould got on the end of a longrange pass and was one-on-one with Beskorowany but dropped the puck back to the trailing Jensen and the Swede quickly sent it past the keeper for his second at 51:49.
Dundee saw out the final few minutes to secure their fourth win in a row and reeled in Braehead Clan to just a single point above them.
Meanwhile, fired up Fife Flyers recovered from their derby defeat to Dundee when they came from behind to defeat Nottingham Panthers.
The Kirkcaldy club also snapped a four-game losing streak thanks to their narrow 3-2 victory.
It takes Flyers on to 48 points from 34 games and kept them in third position in the 12-strong table.
The scoreline was blank after the first session but Yan Sauve fired the visitors ahead after 37 minutes.
An Evan Bloodoff double after 41 and 47 minutes, the first on a powerplay after Panthers hit penalty problems, put the Scots ahead 2-1. Back came Panthers and Mark Derlago slotted home only 16 seconds after Fife’s second, but Ian Young claimed the home side’s third after 56 minutes.
On Saturday Cody Carlson claimed the game-winner for Stars in their clash with Flyers one minute 42 seconds into sudden-death overtime after being set up by Malcolm Gould and comeback man Chris Lawrence.
The goal earned Dundee Stars a 4-3 victory at their own Ice Arena after they led 3-1 in 31 minutes.
Lukas Lundvald Nielsen opened the scoring after seven minutes but Peter Leblanc levelled for Flyers in the 23rd minute. Two goals inside four second period minutes put Stars ahead 3-1, Brian Hart converting short-handed and Gould claiming the other.
Fife hit back through a goal from Shayne Stockton after 36 minutes and another, this time on the powerplay, by Evan Bloodoff to level at 3-3 and take the game into the extra period.