North Stars edge Thunder in top-of-the-table clash

The Newcastle North Stars have stretched their lead atop the AIHL standings after a third period surge saw them take a 4-2 win over the second-placed Perth Thunder at Perth Ice Arena on Saturday.

The North Stars entered the third period trailing 2-1, before leading point scorers Luke Moffatt and Geordie Wudrick scored three third-period goals between them to stretch their lead over the second-placed Thunder to six points, although the Thunder still have a game in hand.

Thunder head coach Dave Kenway said his team struggled to halt the momentum Wudrick and Moffatt gained for the North Stars, with each scoring four points (two goals, two assists).

“They get a bit of momentum and they’re hard guys to stop,” Kenway said. “They’re some of the best imports in the league, both NHL draft picks so when they get momentum they’re going to do some damage to you.”

Scott Swiston and Rob Starke each added two assists to their respective season tallies as the North Stars fired 25 third-period shots and 44 shots overall to complete the comeback win, while Toni Kluuskeri and Alex Hudson each tallied unassisted goals for the Thunder.

North Stars goaltender Dayne Davis, who stopped 37 of 39 shots in a man-of-the-match performance, said the intensity of the game was to be expected from the league’s top two teams.

“Any time you come to Perth, it’s a long road trip and you know you’re in for a fight,” Davis said. “We’re both competing for first place, we knew it would be a great game down to the wire and it didn’t disappoint that’s for sure.”

Toni Kluuskeri was the only player to score in an end-to-end first period after he pounced on a North Stars defensive zone turnover to put a wrist shot past Dayne Davis to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

Alex Hudson doubled the Thunder advantage after skating the puck through the neutral zone and scoring to give the Thunder a deserved 2-0 lead five minutes in to the second period.

Geordie Wudrick opened the scoring for the North Stars nine minutes in to the period after finding space on the right wing and beating Mark Guggenberger with a wrist shot over the glove as the momentum started to shift towards the North Stars.

Davis kept his team in the game, with big saves on shots from Andrew Cox and Jordy Kyros keeping the score at 2-1 heading in to the third period, before Luke Moffatt recorded two quick goals after five minutes of the third to give the North Stars a 3-2 lead.

Wudrick scored an empty net goal in the final minute to extinguish all Thunder hopes of a similar comeback to the previous game between these two teams, where they scored two goals in the final 50 seconds.

“Don’t think we weren’t aware of that as well,” North Star coach Andrew Petrie said. “We called the time out (late in the third period); we wanted to make sure everyone understood what their job was and what their responsibility was.”

Petrie was worried about the early dominance of the Thunder, but was ultimately pleased with the way his team responded to record their first win over the Thunder this season.

“The first period, I thought they dominated us for a good eight or nine minutes and it started to look concerning, but then we worked out what it was they were doing and we made some adjustments,” Petrie said. “They’re a great team and we like to think we are too, the games have been fun all year and we’re really satisfied to get one over them finally.”

Petrie added that slow starts were becoming a pattern for the North Stars.

“We’ve had trouble starting right from the get go all season long,” Petrie said. ”We can’t put our finger on it, hopefully it doesn’t hurt us too badly in the future.”

While Petrie praised his team’s ability to change the momentum of the game, Dave Kenway lamented the Thunder’s drop in effort during the third period.

“Halfway through the third period the boys just stopped skating, lost the game plan and you do that against a team like the North Stars and they pounce on it,” Kenway said. “When we execute our game plan and keep it going for three periods we’re in the game, you have a couple of minutes of a lapse and a team like the North Stars will pounce.”

Dayne Davis was pleased with the way the North Stars were able to change the momentum of the game after starting the game slowly.

“It’s the nature of Perth, they have a great first line and a complimentary second so they’re going to come out all guns blazing,” Davis said. “They got up on us two nothing, luckily we were able to fight back; in the second period they really took it to us and we were able to hold on and eventually get some momentum back.”

Petrie expressed his joy at taking all three points from the top-of-the-table clash.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys; it’s a tough road trip anyway, even forgetting the fact that they’re as good a team as they are so I’m really happy,” Petrie said. “All things being equal, if I could have that performance every game I’d take it, I thought the boys were really good.”

Next week, the Thunder head to Melbourne for an away series against the Ice, while the North Stars host the Melbourne Mustangs on July 11.