By Kris Smith
The Stars made one change to their starting line-up as goaltender Jarrett Fiske returned to the starting position between the pipes and he would be backed up by 18-year-old, Dominick Jaglar as Slovakian, keeper Richard Sabol was not in the match night squad.
Dundee made the better start as they pressed the Manchester defences early and almost cracked David Tendeck in the Storm goal but the momentum soon swung in the home team’s favour as Stars forward, Philippe Sanche was the first to be sent to the penalty box in the eighth minute, as he was punished for a hooking foul.
However, Mike Morin’s men were unable to make their man advantage count as their powerplay expired and the Stars went straight back onto the press but as the physicality levels began to ramp up, the Storm soon found themselves on the penalty kill after Craig Martin was boxed for slashing in the 15th minute.
It took only eight seconds of powerplay time for Dundee to break the deadlock as they worked the puck down the left-hand side, while Brendan Harms cleared some space in front of the Manchester goal.
Zach Tsekos then played a pass across goal to Harms and the Canadian turned the puck past Tendeck to end the stalemate and the Stars would remain a goal ahead going into the first break, despite being outshot 18-7 by the hosts.
In the second period, the Taysiders would have to kill off two more hooking penalties but between the two powerplays, they had managed to double their lead on the halfway mark as Philippe Sanche was played in behind the Manchester defence by Jonathan McBean.
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All images: Storm Images.
