Dundee Stars made it an unbeaten opening weekend with a 6–2 home win over the Glasgow Clan, following up their 7–4 victory in Belfast 24 hours earlier.
“I think we’ve got a hard-nosed team, we’re tough to play against, playing the right way and not turning pucks over while sticking to our systems,” commented Matt Boudens on the Stars second win in as many nights. “I think we can be successful and we showed that throughout the first weekend.”
The visitors struck first just 1:40 into the game when Miihkali Teppo fired a loose puck past Jarrett Fiske after Deven Sideroff carried it to the net with a nifty move to evade a Stars defenceman.
Justin Bean equalised at 5:47, taking a drop pass from Morten Jürgens at the top of the circle and firing a wrist shot past Sami Aittokallio for his second goal of the weekend. Less than two minutes later Ben Almquist gave Dundee their first lead, skating into the Clan zone and beating Aittokallio to make it 2–1 at 7:00.
Glasgow hit back quickly. After an initial shot from the point was saved by Fiske, Tristin Langan was first to the loose puck and slid it home to tie the game at 2–2 at 9:45.
The second period began with sustained pressure from the Clan, including a five-on-three advantage, but it was Dundee who struck next. A strong zone entry by Kameron Kielly created a two-on-one, and Keanu Yamamoto finished a highlight-reel backhand from his knees at 27:53 to put the Stars back in front.
Only 91 seconds later, Kris Inglis made it 4–2 with his first goal since the 2022/23 season, a shot from the wall that found its way past Aittokallio. At 33:35, Yamamoto struck again, collecting a pass from Otto Nieminen and firing past Aittokallio’s blocker to make it 5–2. That goal prompted a goaltending change, with Lucas Brine replacing Aittokallio.
“It wasn’t our best game, we know we have an identity and that wasn’t it at all,” said Clan captain Deven Sideroff. “We just have some things to work on and we didn’t play our game at all.
“There are some positives to build on this weekend but there’s a lot of work we need to do over the next couple of days before playing Manchester in our home league opener.”
A feisty third period saw chances at both ends as the Clan tried to mount a late comeback, but Fiske stood tall and turned away every effort. Hampus Olsson rounded off the scoring at 58:37 with a shot from the circle that bounced over Brine, sealing a 6–2 victory and a perfect opening weekend for the Stars.
Concluded Boudens: “We just stick to our ways. Yesterday we had seven different goal scorers so if we can kind of keep that up throughout the season, our powerplay has been clicking as well, so from one line to the fourth we’ve been able to produce. So I think if you can do that throughout a season you’re going to be successful.”
Photo: Derek Black