CARDIFF DEVILS 2 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 4

The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars made a winning start to the new year as they produced a big upset and took down the Elite League leaders, Cardiff Devils with a 4-2 victory in South Wales on Friday night and snapped their four-year winless run in the Vindico Arena.

By Kris Smith

The Stars made one change to their line-up following the last game of 2024 as goaltenders Jarrett Fiske and Richard Sabol swapped places as Sabol was handed the first start of 2025 and he had a job to do in the first 20 minutes with the home side forcing him into some testing saves.

Despite the Slovakian keeper’s heroics at one end, Dundee were unable to convert any of their chances in the first period as Brendan Harms, Philippe Sanche and Jake Elmer all went close but Mac Carruth kept the game scoreless heading to the second.

Although, the Devils would waste no time in finally opening the scoring as they took the lead just 33 seconds after the restart, punishing the Taysiders for a defensive turnover in their own end.

Josh MacDonald would be played in by Evan Mosey and he dispatched the puck past Sabol at his near post but the home team’s lead would be short lived as Zach Tsekos brought the Stars back onto level terms on 23 minutes.

Dundee defenseman, Ben O’Connor had played the puck from the left wing, straight across goal to the right post where Tsekos was waiting to tap home the finish and that sparked Marc LeFebvre’s men on as at the halfway mark, they got themselves in front through Cole MacDonald.

The Canadian blueliner caught a loose rebound on the left side after Carruth had denied Keanu Yamamoto’s one-timer from the right but the Devils goalie was left out of position and MacDonald had the whole Cardiff net to shoot at.

Dundee would then have two back-to-back powerplay opportunities to increase their lead but failed to make it count and were then forced to kill off two penalties against themselves as Yamamoto picked up two minor calls before the end of the second session.

In the third period, the Stars refused to ease up on the Welsh side and soon found a third goal to give themselves a much needed two-goal cushion and on 46 minutes, Kameron Kielly would skate in on the Devils goal but his initial effort would be turned skyward by Carruth,

However, Kielly was fastest to react to the dropping puck, caught it and threw it down to his stick before slotting past the Cardiff goalie to make it 3-1.

Pete Russell’s side then cranked up the pressure as they tried to force a route back into the game and would cut the lead back down to one with less than four minutes left on the clock as they netted a powerplay goal.

With Dundee’s Xavier Pouliot in the penalty box for interference, the Devils took almost the full two minutes before they found a way past Sabol again and it would be Reid Duke, who batted the puck in out of mid-air after Sabol had made the save of the first effort from distance.

The Stars then defended well in the final minutes and prevented their opponents from being able to put them under any pressure as they broke up attack after attack, all while the Devils had an empty net as they opted for an extra skater for the final 90 seconds.

Then with the final seconds of the game running out, Dundee made one final move up the ice that ended with Brendan Harms attempting to beat the buzzer with a tap-in to the empty Cardiff net.

It was originally called no-goal on the ice at the time but after a lengthy review which lasted until after both teams had left the ice, the goal would be given to make it a 4-2 victory for the Stars as they start 2025 off on a huge high and pick up two vital points, but also their first win over the Devils in 16 games.

Dundee now head home and prepare for Saturday’s visit from Manchester Storm, where another victory is a must to keep the Altrincham club behind them in the race for a playoff spot, especially after the Storm picked up a 4-1 win at home over Glasgow Clan on Friday night.