Flames stay in hunt for fifth

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames continued their chase for fifth place with a home win over Dundee Stars on Sunday night.

The Flames opened the scoring just three minutes in when Marcus Tesink carried the puck down the ice and slid it across to Tyler Busch, who set up Charlie Curti to fire a shot across goal and into the top corner.

“We knew Dundee had a long road trip and that a good start would be important,” said Busch. “It wasn’t the second period we wanted, but we saw it through and found a way to win.”

Guildford almost doubled their lead in the eighth minute when Lewis Hook broke in on a 2-on-1 with Josh Waller. Hook fed Waller with Emil Kruse out of position, but the attempt missed the target. Tyler Preziuso then struck the post as the hosts continued to apply pressure.

Dundee had a chance to equalise just before the halfway mark of the first period when Justin Fazio made an initial save and reacted quickly to gather the loose puck in front.

At 12:39, Guildford extended their lead. A strong block from Tyler Busch led to Jack Jacome getting a shot on goal, and although the first effort was saved, Preziuso was on hand at the post to tuck the rebound home.

“It’s always hard coming off that bus and getting into the game, but I thought we responded pretty well after they went ahead,” said Stars’ Drydn Dow. “We stayed in there in the first although we were down by two, and we responded well in the second.”

Dundee responded less than a minute into the second period when a neutral-zone turnover allowed Matthew Boudens to skate into the Guildford zone and slot the puck past Fazio.

The Flames restored their two-goal advantage at 29:44 through a tipped effort. Jonathon Racine’s shot from the blue line was redirected in front by Busch to make it 3-1.

Dundee pulled one back when Drydn Dow finished a quick passing play on the powerplay, firing past Fazio to cut the deficit to one heading into the third period.

Guildford added another at 33:00 as Jacome’s neat saucer pass found Ethan Strang, who poked the puck through the five-hole of Kruse to make it 4-2.

A scramble around the front of Fazio's net saw Johnny Curran score the Stars' third of the night and make it a one-goal game again just over three minutes before the end of the period.

The scoring ended there, with neither side adding to the seven goals through the first 40 minutes. Dundee pushed late with the extra skater but could only pull Kruse for the final 37 seconds as Guildford held on for the win.

Busch concluded: “We forechecked hard and got to loose pucks to spread out their defence. I thought we did a good job of getting pucks to the net and traffic in front. It’s that time of the year when you want to be peaking. We have some important hockey ahead of us to build for.”