Storm win crucial playoff battle

Photos: Mark Ferris

Manchester Storm blanked Dundee for the second time this season to move back two points ahead of the Stars in the race for the playoffs.

There were no goals in the opening period, but a string of excellent saves by both Matt Ginn and Alex Leclerc throughout the game in both nets kept their sides in the game.

The deadlock was eventually broken at 26:39 - Jared Aulin's pass to the back post found Mario Puskarich to fire home as the Storm played on a delayed penalty. After a great save by Ginn at one end, the Storm went up the other and saw Tyson Fawcett shoot past Leclerc to make it 2-0 at 31:54. 32 seconds later a Mathieu Gagnon shot was deflect on it's route to the goal to put the hosts three ahead, at which point Stars' coach Omar Pacha called a timeout.

The Stars threw everything they had in the final period but were unable to find a way past Ginn who recorded a 41-shot shutout. Awarded Man of the Match, he invited Zach Sullivan over to take the accolades as well at the end of the game in a classy move from the Storm netminder.

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