Flames too hot for Stars

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames hit four goals in the first period to power past Dundee Stars with a five-goal win in front of a sold-out Spectrum crowd.

I think at the beginning it was important for us to come out strong, and that’s exactly that we did,” said Daniel Catenacci who had a goal and an assist. “Sometimes this season we’ve come out well but kind of let up as the game went in but tonight we played a full 60 minutes which you can see with the score.

The home side opened the scoring early at 03:11, as Ethan Strang scored his 20th goal of the year after redirecting a pass by Daniel Catenacci into the Stars' net

Matt Alvaro doubled the Flames' lead at 07:41, finding space behind the defence and using the open ice to shoot the puck past Richard Sabol's blocker.

A blocked shot in the Flames' zone led to a two-on-one rush, with Ethan Strang's pass finding the stick of Daniel Catenacci who tapped the puck into the open net at 10:07. 

“Strang and I were joking about it, I got him one and then he got me right back," joked Catenacci. "It’s good chemistry, we’ve been playing together for a while now and got used to each other.”

A fourth goal came through a solo effort by Jack Jacome as the Canadian picked the puck up behind the Stars' net and wedged it in from a tight angle at 14:06, prompting a goalie change for the visitors.

End-to-end action in the opening frame of the second period saw Dundee come out strong, as they looked to generate some offense and get on the board early. 

Despite this, Matt Alvaro scored the only goal of the period as he found the back of the net for the second time at 29:36. A pass from behind the Stars' net by Jack Jacome found Alvaro on the doorstep, who sent a wrist shot past the glove of Jarrett Fiske. A late powerplay provided the best opportunity for the visitors to score their first of the night, however, Jake Kupsky stood tall and made three consecutive pad saves to deny the Stars. 

A scoreless third period saw a strong defensive performance by the home team, with Jake Kupsky securing his second Elite League shutout. Dundee had some high quality scoring chances throughout the period, at one point forcing Kupsky to make a diving save to keep the puck from passing the goal line. The goaltender stood tall however, and denied everything put his way on route to two vital league points.