Stars win in shootout after Blaze tie it late

Photo: Derek Black

Dundee Stars gave up a two-goal lead and a late tying goal but eventually were able to beat Coventry Blaze in a shootout on Friday night.

Elijah Barriga was the star of the night for the home side, netting two in regulation and scoring the decisive shootout goal. He opened the scoring at 18:!5 with another through-the-legs move in the slot to make it 1-0. 

Romans Semjonovs converted on a powerplay to put the hosts two up at 21:58, but the Blaze were level before the second intermission. Tanner Lishchynsky grabbed a powerplay marker for the Blaze, the league's top powerplay team, at 30:02 before Nathan Ripley fired on a loose puck to tie the game at 34:54.

In period three, the Blaze took two successive delay of game minors for shooting the puck over the glass, and were eventually punished when Barriga beat Paavo Hölsä from a tight angle to put the Stars back ahead at 50:03. As the clock wound down and Hölsä headed off for an extra skater, an innocuous Alexander Kuqali shot somehow got under Anton Svensson's pad and rolled over the line to tie the game with 72 seconds remaining. In overtime, the Stars had to kill off a Philippe Sanche Hooking minor before things were eventually decided on penalty shots.

Johan Eriksson and Sanche scored in rounds two and three of the shootout respectively compared to only Jack Billings of the Blaze, which set up Barriga to put the Stars into a 3-1 lead. When John Curran's shot was saved by Svensson, the Stars took the extra point.