Preece backstops Stars to shootout win

Photo: Dean Woolley

Brython Preece made 31 saves and stopped three of four shots in the shootout to lead his team to a 5-4 victory in Sheffield in front of 7,329 fans to secure his first professional win. The defeat saw the Steelers slip from first in the standings.

Stars' starting goalie Adam Morrison didn't travel to Sheffield, giving Preece the whole bus ride down to Yorkshire to prepare for his first start of the season.

While the Steelers would have been wanting to get early shots on Preece early on, it was Dundee who made the better start and raced into a two-goal lead. Charlie Combs put the stars ahead after only 56 seconds, with Connor Sills then deflecting a shot past Barry Brust at 1:47 to silence the home crowd. Preece couldn't control the rebound from a Vojta Polák shot at 5:33, allowing Matias Sointu to score for his office at the top of the crease to cut the arrears in half.

With Just over seven minutes on the clock, Brust stretched to see a shot past the side of his post but in a way that his body didn't like and he was unable to take any further part in the game - heading straight down the tunnel. Rok Stojanovič took over in his place.

Evan Mosey fired past Preece 6:45 into period two to tie the game, much to the relief of the home crowd, with the puck going crossbar and in. The Stars, however, had other ideas and re-took the lead less than two minutes later - Gabriel Desjardins attacking the crease and deflecting home an inch-perfect pass from Combs at 28:33. 

Penalty trouble was to cost the Stars their lead in the closing stages of period three. Minors on both Timi Lahtinen and Kalvis Ozols put the Steelers on a 5-on-3 advantage, and two excellent Robert Dowd finishes turned the game in favour of the Steelers in the space of 17 seconds. 

Period three was open but edgy as the Steelers looked to make the game safe but were wary of the Stars on the rush. Off an offensive zone draw, won by Dillon Lawrence, space opened up for Sills to pick his spot from the slot and tie the game with 3:08 to play. An excellent Kyle Haas block inside the final three seconds prevented the Steelers from snatching a late winner.

The stunned Utilita Arena crowd saw the home side come close to winning it in overtime, but the puck refused to bounce their way. Dundee had a couple of good looks on the rush the other way but often lacked precision on the final pass.

With the scores tied after 65 minutes the game headed into a shootout. Philippe Sanche scored the only goal of the opening two rounds, and while Polák matched Bengtsson's goal in Round 3, a miss by Sointu in the fourth allowed Dillon Lawrence to win the shootout 3-1 for the Stars in Round 5.

The side meet again in Dundee on Sunday.