Stars score three in third to top Clan

Aspray Glasgow West sponsored Glasgow Clan saw their hopes of two Christmas points dashed as Dundee Stars took a 4-2 win away from Braehead Arena.

The Clan instantly put themselves on the attack at the start of the game as Charlie Combs and Gary Haden generated an early two-on-one rush but it was broken up by Kevin Carr’s stick.

Darien Craighead then came agonisingly to giving Glasgow the go-ahead goal when he pulled off a wraparound move on the Stars’ net, but Carr was quick to it with his skate.

Anthony Rinaldi led the way for Dundee as he tested Clan’s goalie Antti Karjalainen early on and forced an incredible double save from the Finnish goaltender.

Dyson Stevenson and Robert Lachowicz played some tic-tac-toe with the puck later in the period as they fizzed it through the zones before Stevenson’s shot was met by Carr’s catcher.

Karjalainen then pulled off a superb save on a breakaway attempt from Rinaldi before diving across his line to stop a rebound shot from Spencer Naas.

In the second period, Tommy Parrottino came close to putting the visitors in front when he picked up possession in the Clan zone and fired a free shot just wide of Karjalainen’s net.

Brendan Harms then grabbed the opening goal of the game with a rebound shot on Carter Johnson’s shot after Karjalainen failed to cover his line.

Reid Petryk struck the pipe with a missile of a shot from the right dot as the Clan pressed for an equaliser which eventually came through a top-shelf finish from Lachowicz.

Cody Sol followed up shortly after with a cannon of a shot that flew over Carr’s right shoulder into the roof of the net.

The Stars got into their groove in the final period as Ryan Valentini slammed in an equaliser  just 16 seconds into the third period to put the visitors level at two apiece.

Brent Beaudoin then scored just four minutes later to give Dundee the lead as he sent a close-range first time shot past Karjalainen.

The Clan batted hard to find an equaliser with Lachowicz and Matt Barry even ringing the bar, but it wasn’t to be as the Stars closed out the game with an empty net goal from Spencer Naas.

Report by Sam Scouller; photos by Al Goold