By Luke McGinnis
Fife opened the scoring early, as Vlastimil Dostálek struck 01:10 into the game. Mason Alderson carried the puck over the blue line and fed a pass back to Dostálek, whose wrist shot from the high slot beat Emil Kruse.
Spencer Naas had Dundee’s best chance midway through the first period, forcing a turnover in the defensive zone to spring himself on a breakaway which was stopped by Christian Purboo.
The first powerplay of the night went the way of the home side, after Justin Bean was called for tripping at 14:59. Dundee’s penalty kill stood firm, preventing Fife from setting up in the zone and almost coming close to equalising short-handed with a two-on-one breakaway that was turned aside by Purboo.
Emil Kruse was sharp to start the second period, making a number of key saves to deny the Flyers a second goal.
After strong work in the corner from Drydn Dow, Matt Boudens collected the puck behind the Fife net and fed Morten Jürgens in close. The Estonian International made no mistake, firing a one-timer past Purboo to equalise the score at 23:15.
A tripping penalty against Jaka Šturm proved costly for the Flyers, as the Stars’ powerplay immediately got to work. Kameron Kielly converted on the man advantage, giving Dundee their first lead of the night at 35:48 with a shot from the left circle finding the top corner.
Ethan Somoza scored the lone third period goal, once again levelling the score at 49:11. Jackson DeSouza displayed strong defensive instincts as he blocked an initial shot from Somoza. However, the puck bounced back to the Flyers forward, whose second shot took a fortunate bounce to beat Kruse.
Neither team could break the deadlock in the remaining regulation time or in an intense back-and-forth overtime frame, with a shootout being required to determine the winner.
Emil Kruse stopped all four Flyers attempts, while Drydn Dow and Kameron Kielly scored to secure the two points for the Stars who once again sit atop Group B in the Challenge Cup.
