By Kris Smith
The same teams took to the ice Sunday night to do it all again, the only change was Christoph Frankenberg was withdrawn from the Freiburg line-up after sustaining an injury on Saturday night.
Dundee played a strong physical game on Saturday that seen them pull out of reach in the second period after both teams struggled to find their feet in the opening twenty minutes. Matt Bissonnette, Shawn Boutin, Charlie Corcoran, François Bouchard and Drydn Dow all found the net for Stars in a 5-1-win, while Marc Wittfoth provided Freiburg’s only goal.
An early penalty against Freiburg’s Jannik Herm put Dundee on the powerplay just ninety seconds into the game. Johan Andersson created the only big chance on the man advantage, as he sent a slap pass to Matt Marquardt but he could not direct the puck on target.
The penalty was killed and there were few real chances created in the opening five minutes. A few minutes passed before a dump by the German’s into the Stars defensive zone caused alarm for Pontus Sjögren in the Dundee goal, it took an awkward bounce towards goal but the Swede cleared it away with ease.
Omar Pacha’s men went back on the powerplay as Dennis Meyer was penalised for tripping in the 7th minute, although they were unable to capitalise, and the game remained scoreless. Dundee began to take control after ten minutes, but Matthias Nemec had denied every shot he faced. Dow flicked a quick wrist shot that was smoothly gloved by Wolves’ goalie and the German’s got stronger at the back as the pressure grew against the visitors.
Dow then followed up on a loose rebound, but he could only hit the side netting as Stars fans almost leapt from their seats and that was all moments before a breakaway for Freiburg’s Christian Neuert. However, the Dundee keeper was able to hold the effort. The first period once again concluded without any goals but both teams would have been pleased with the stalemate.
After only five minutes had been played in the second stanza, Freiburg opened the scoring through Wittfoth after he was able to beat Sjögren in the 26th minute and bag his second goal in two games. An instant response was what Dundee needed and it is what they got through Matt Marquardt who released a rocket of a shot into the top of the net, thirty-six seconds after conceding. Stars had been on the powerplay after Daniel Malý was penalised just six seconds before the goal.
The game did not settle down and neither did the home side as Mike Sullivan created a good chance, but he fired high over the goal. Craig Holland was given the nod with just over nine minutes remaining in the second period, as he replaced Sjögren in the Stars goal.
The Scottish goalie was called into action quickly but made a fine stop to keep the scores level. Meyer then fired a quick wrist shot, but Holland caught it comfortably. Dundee found a break in the final minutes of the middle period and Sullivan tried to lift a pass to Jordan Kelsall but the pass was blocked by the head of a diving Freiburg defender.
Stars opened the third period with a quick goal from Bissonnette to take the lead, thirty-six seconds after the restart. Holland made numerous saves in the following minutes as the Wolves stepped up the pressure. Marvin Neher tied the game at 2-2 after he beat Holland in the 46th minute with a neat finish.
Craig Garrigan and Andersson both picked up minor penalties to put the visitors on a 5-on-3 powerplay, despite one big opportunity for the German side where Holland had to scramble across his line to stop the puck going in, Dundee were able to kill off the penalties easily. Stars could have stolen a late win as Corcoran was found alone to the right of the Freiburg goal but his shot was stopped by the toe of Nemec at the last second.
With the game still tied at 2-2, five minutes of overtime would decide the winner. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Nikolas Linsenmaier found a hole between the Dundee netminder’s legs and sealed the win for Freiburg just ninety-nine seconds into the extra period. Freiburg goalie Nemec and Stars’ Brian Hart picked up the ‘Man of the Match’ awards.
Talking after the game, Stars head coach, Pacha, said: “We had a lot of good things going tonight, in 120 minutes, only conceding a total of 4 goals, I thought was alright.
“I thought the defence, our goalie and the defensive five man unit was good.
“Obviously we had more jump on Saturday which is perfectly normal, I think we got tired on Sunday, but it is no excuse, we worked hard all week.
“It is the first week, we have to be realistic and I think we all wanted to win the last game but all in all, we got the 2-1 lead and Sheep (Craig Holland) was in the second half and he did good.
“We allowed one goal that I am sure we would like to have back but that is a lot of teaching and takes a bit of time. All in all, I saw a lot of positives and just a few things we have to correct but that takes time.”
