Stars come from behind, win in shootout

Photo: Derek Black

Dundee Stars came back from two down to beat Belfast Giants ins a dramatic ending to their Hogmanay fixture.

A goal in each of the opening two periods had the Giants two ahead through 40 minutes in Dundee, the latter of which became somewhat bad-tempered.

With 9:58 played, Cameron Pound's shot from the point was tipped in front of Kevin Carr by Ara Nazarian to open the scoring - a goal upheld after checking for a high attack on video review. 

That was the only real action of the opening period, but the second 20 minutes had a little more to it. Nazarian doubled the Giants' lead at 29:08, while the Stars were lucky Chris McKay was only assessed a roughing minor for a play behind his own team's net. With 2:24 left in the period, McKay was ejected for a cross-check over by the boards in the offensive zone. 

Having gone five straight periods without scoring against the Giants, the Stars more than made up for it with a third-period comeback. Spencer Naas got the Stars on the board at 49:41 on the powerplay, set up by an excellent Ryan Valentini pass. Carr was pulled with two minutes to go, and with 8 seconds remaining the home side were rewarded - Naas got on a rebound from a Joshua Brittain shot to tie the game to the delight of the 2,342-strong crowd.

After neither side could wit the game in overtime, things were settled in a shootout. Carter Johnson, Naas and Valentini all scored in the shootout without reply to earn Dundee the extra point.