Stars still alive in playoff race

Photo: Panthers Images

Dundee Stars kept their slim playoff hopes alive with an excellent road victory in Nottingham, beating the Panthers XXX on Wednesday night.

In a game the Stars had to win, Johan Eriksson gave Jeff Mason's team the lead with a rebound attempt that got caught in Alex Dubeau's pads and trickled over the goal line. The hosts hit the crossbar before finding themselves two down as Eriksson reacted quickest to a rebound off a Ben Sokway shot to jam the puck over the line at 12:37. Tanner Sorenson finished a neat tic-tac-toe play with a powerplay goal at 19:12 to get the hosts back to within one.

Hugo Reinhardt raced through 1-on-0 and converted his own rebound to extended the visitors' lead to 3-1 4:14 into the second period, with the Stats getting excellent goaltending from Brython Preece to ensure they stayed ahead. The Panthers hit the frame of the goal again as they looked to get back into the game, but with the seconds ticking down in the period Sokway worked hardest on a loose puck and poked it home to give Dundee at 4-1 lead at 39:28

With 7:48 remaining in the final period, a beautiful saucer pass from Reinhardt set up Philippe Sanche for a pack-post tap-in on an odd-man rush to give the Stars a four-goal cushion. Preece made 40 saves on the way to a man of the match performance.