FIFE FLYERS 2 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 5
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars made it six straight Tayside Derby victories over Fife Flyers as they defeated their bitter rivals 5-2 in Kirkcaldy on Saturday night.
By Kris Smith
The Stars regained a full line-up of healthy players ahead of the weekend as Domenic Alberga and Craig Moore returned to action, which meant Alex Robert would be the spare import sitting out but they would get off to a fast start as Dundee took the lead inside five minutes.
Canadian forward, Philippe Sanche went in on the Fife goal and shot past Shane Owen’s glove side to open the scoring and just four minutes later, defenseman Kyle Pouncy bagged his first goal of the season as Spencer Naas dropped a pass for the Canadian to fire home from the slot.
With the Stars 2-0 ahead and cruising, they did not let up on the Flyers and Brendan Harms would add a third goal in the 18th minute as he tucked home the rebound after Owen had made the save on Naas’ effort.
However, Dundee goalie Richard Sabol still had his work cut out for him at the other end as the home team created some counter attacks to test the Stars defence and just over a minute into the second period, Fife would finally find a way past the Slovakian keeper.
The Flyers would manage to keep possession pinned in the Dundee defensive zone and Phelix Martineau manoeuvred his way out of the corner towards goal, before skating the puck around Sabol and tucking it in at the far post.
Although, just 95 seconds later, Harms would tap in another rebound to restore the three-goal lead after Owen made the save on Kameron Kielly’s shot, but it could have then quickly become a 5-1 lead for Marc LeFebvre’s men as they recieved the first powerplay of the game when Fife’s Lucas Chiodo was boxed for high sticks.
Despite, the man advantage, the Flyers held firm to keep the Dundee powerplay unit out but would soon allow a fifth goal as Naas skated the puck around Owen before cutting a pass back across goal for Zach Tsekos to finish off on 31 minutes.
Johnny Curran’s side needed to find a way to muster up a response in the third and final period but they struggled to breakout of their own end and time was running out on them.
Eventually they would find the back of the net again but only with four minutes left on the clock as Kieran Craig turned home the pass from Patrick Kyte and after having two powerplay chances already in the game, the Flyers were given a third in 58th minute as Xavier Pouliot was punished for boarding.
Fife would be unable to convert on another man advantage, which would have set up a tense finish but the buzzer confirmed a buoyant bounce back win for the Stars and keeps them just two points behind Glasgow Clan in seventh place, with Sunday’s visit from Nottingham Panthers a chance to draw level with their Scottish rivals.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #81 Brendan Harms
Fife: #22 Phelix Martineau
Goals
1st:
0-1 Philippe Sanche (Brett Gravelle) 04:45
0-2 Kyle Pouncy (Spencer Naas, Brendan Harms) 09:25
0-3 Brendan Harms (Spencer Naas, Kameron Kielly) 17:41
2nd:
1-3 Phelix Martineau (Unassisted) 21:20
1-4 Brendan Harms (Kameron Kielly, Drydn Dow) 22:55
1-5 Zach Tsekos (Spencer Naas, Cole MacDonald) 31:11
3rd:
2-5 Kieran Craig (Patrick Kyte) 56:00
All images: Flyers Images.