Stars climb back into playoff places

Photo: Derek Black

A goal-fest at the Dundee Ice Arena saw the Stars beat Nottingham Panthers 7-4. The win, on retro night in Dundee, moved the Stars back into the playoff places.

Period one ended with the teams splitting four goals. Brent Beaudoin opened the scoring with a fortunate touch of his skate to then shoot past Rok Stojanovič with 11:33 played. 63 seconds later, Otto Nieminen tied the game with a tip on an Alexander Lunsjo shot, and by 17:22 the Finn had put the Panthers into the lead. Jake Elmer levelled things with 49 seconds left in the first as he converted an Elijah Vilio feed into the slot.

Anthony Luciani gave the visitors the lead back 13:33 into period two with a well-placed finish in space in the slot, but they were only ahead until 34:49 when Anthony Rinaldi skated from his own zone to beat Stojanovič high. Nieminen completed his hat trick with two seconds left in the period, this time tipping Didrik Hendrant's shot past Lucas Brine.

Kyle Pouncy fed the puck into the crease for Josh Brittain to convert to bring Dundee level again 3:41 into period three, before a pair of goals in under a minute put them in charge. Ryan Valentini and James Phelan netted 54 seconds apart to put the Stars 6-4 ahead with 13 minutes to play.

Drydn Dow sealed the win for the Stars after the Panthers gave the puck away in their own zone, and the Stars captain picked his spot in Stojanovič's net to make it 7-4.