By Luke McGinnis
Cardiff came out strong in the opening frame, with Vladislav Pestov making a huge glove save in the first minute of play to deny the home side before the Devils hit the post just under three minutes later.
Despite this, it was Dundee who opened the scoring, doing so through Matt DeBoer at 13:45. A turnover in the Stars’ zone sent Josh Nelson on a partial breakaway, which was denied by Ben Bowns. However, Gary Haden was first to the loose puck behind the Devils’ net and fired a pass to the doorstep, where DeBoer was waiting to fire it home and make it 1-0.
An interference call on Rasmus Nousiainen at 26:24 gave Cardiff the first powerplay of the second period, but this was quickly cancelled out by Joey Martin with an interference penalty of his own, turning the play into 4-on-4 action.
Brandon Estes used the extra space to equalise at 27:17, firing a wrist shot from the high slot through traffic and past Pestov to make it 1-1.
Evan Mosey took exception to a hit by Gary Haden on Joey Martin, quickly dropping the gloves with the Stars’ forward. Both were assessed five-minute majors for fighting, while Haden also received a two-minute minor for boarding and Mosey picked up an additional two-minute minor and 10-minute misconduct for instigating.
Neither side could find the back of the net during a hard-working, back-and-forth third period, despite chances at both ends of the ice. The Devils threatened, but couldn’t find a way past a rock-solid Pestov, while the Stars’ best opportunity came on a late powerplay, which was successfully killed off by the home side.
Kristoff Kontos was the overtime hero for Cardiff, breaking into the Stars’ zone with speed and beating Pestov with a nifty move in close.
