By Luke McGinnis
The MKM Dundee Stars secured their first win of preseason on Saturday night, narrowly knocking off their local rivals the Fife Flyers 3-2 in overtime.
A feisty start saw Flyers’ captain Garet Hunt take exception to a hit by Griffin Luce, with both sitting for roughing and Hunt taking an extra two minutes to give the Stars’ their first powerplay of the night. Keanu Yamamoto wasted no time, capitalising on the man advantage with some nifty passing in tight and beating Shane Owen to open the scoring at 03:13.
Brad Schoonbaert quickly doubled the Stars’ lead at 07:32, tipping Justin Bean’s shot from the point past Owen for his first in a Dundee jersey. The remainder of the opening period was comfortably in the home team’s favour, limiting Fife to few high quality chances throughout and displaying a strong penalty kill in the final frame with multiple blocked shots.
The Flyers came into the second period strong, controlling the pace of play early and generating their best chances of the game so far. A penalty to Matt Boudens proved fatal for the Stars, with Mason Alderson picking up a loose puck on the doorstep and sliding it past Emil Kruse to get the visitors on the scoreboard at 23:59. Dundee managed to balance play out during the remainder of the second period, as both goaltenders were relied upon heavily to keep the score at 2-1 heading into the final 30 minutes.
Fife once again managed to find the back of the Stars’ net early in a period, this time through Josh Winquist less than two minutes in at 41:41. After an initial save by Kruse, and a diving stop by Griffin Luce, Winquist took advantage of a wide open net and sent the puck into the goal to equalise. Neither team could take a late lead, and despite chances on both ends of the ice and numerous posts being hit, overtime was required to declare a derby winner.
Overtime began with the Flyers’ maintaining consistent pressure in the Stars’ zone, using the open ice to pick apart Dundee’s defense and put Kruse to the test. Despite this, it was Drydn Dow who was the overtime hero for the Stars, slipping behind the Fife opposition with a breakaway and beating Owen blocker side in close.
The Stars will look to carry this momentum into tonight, once again facing the Flyers, this time in Kirkcaldy, where Fife will be hungry to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd.
