By Luke McGinnis
“You’ve got to be happy with that result,” said head coach Scott Dutertre. “I thought we played them really well last weekend as well, we just didn’t get a couple of bounces. We talked about when we played them again we just had to find ways to get the puck to the net and get some traffic, we did that and we’re on the right end.”
The Devils opened the scoring early through Riley Brandt, who fired a shot from the high slot past Carl Stankowski at 03:44.
A tripping call against Evan Brand gave the visitors the first powerplay of the night, which Josh MacDonald wasted no time converting on at 05:12 with a one-timer from the right circle into the Stars’ net.
Captain Travis Ewanyk pulled a goal back for Dundee, scoring his third goal in as many games at 12:46. Maxim Eliseev carried the puck into the Devils’ zone and left a drop pass for Ewanyk, who made no mistake, beating Ben Bowns in close with a quick shot.
Zack Hoffman scored his first goal as a Star just over two minutes later to level the score at 2-2. A pass from Duggie Lagrone found Hoffman’s stick on the blueline, where he fired a wrist shot that deflected off a Cardiff defender and into the Devils’ net at 14:52.
“I’m feeling really good, you can’t complain when you get six points on the week,” said Stankowski, who made 38 saves. “The guys did a great job in front of me tonight, and I think we’re happy with the six points.”
Neither side could find the back of the net over the next two periods, despite trading chances throughout. Stankowski made his best save of the night halfway through the game, robbing Riley Brandt and Josh MacDonald in quick succession, while the Stars pushed hard during the opening frame of the third period, forcing Bowns into a number of tough saves. Despite this, neither side could find a winner in regulation, sending the game into overtime.
“A lot of saves, but the guys did a great job in front of me,” reflected Stankowski on the second and third period. “The defencemen kept the guys to the outside for the most part and made some big blocks, boxing them out from me, so they made my job really easy so credit goes to them.”
Rasmus Nousiainen was the overtime hero for the Stars, beating Bowns just over three minutes into the extra period. A big stop from Stankowski on a Devils rush saw the Stars break up the other end of the ice. Tyson Laventure made a nifty pass to Nousiainen, who beat Bowns in close with a quick shot to secure two massive points and the Stars’ third consecutive victory.
“It’s all about building blocks,” Dutertre concluded. “I thought last night after the first period (against Fife) we were getting pushed around a little bit. If we’re all playing connected and all doing our jobs we’ll be rewarded, and tonight I thought we had a really good push.”
