Mustangs Pitkanen no match for the Ice Dogs assault. Photo: Phil Taylor.

The Sydney Ice Dogs did to the Melbourne Mustangs what the Mustangs did to the Melbourne Ice the night before, staging a comeback to defeat the home team 4-3 at the O’Brien Group Arena on Saturday night.

The Mustangs were looking to carry their momentum from the previous night’s shootout win over their crosstown rivals, whereas Andrew Petrie’s men were looking to continue their momentum from the previous week’s encounter between the two teams which saw them skate away with a 6-2 win at Macquarie.

The Mustangs struck first through Brett Ferguson who notched his 6^th of the season five minutes into the period, to give the Mustangs an early 1-0 lead.

With his father Sean making the journey all the way over from the North-East of the United States, Pat O’Kane made sure he had something take back with him when he added a power play goal for Melbourne with 4:55 remaining. The score would remain 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

The 2^nd period started out in favour of the Mustangs but finished with the pendulum firmly on the side of the Ice Dogs.

The best chance of the period however came first for the Mustangs when Ferguson rung one off of the pipe on a one-timer, only for the rebound to kick out to Vadim Virjassov who struck the other post with 10:14 to go.

The traffic was all Ice Dogs for the remainder of the period.

Todd Stephenson nabbed his 5^th goal of the year and the first of the game for the Ice Dogs’ moments later. After Geordie Wudrick protected the puck behind the net, Grant Toulmin skated onto a loose puck and wrapped it around to a waiting Stephenson at the back door, who buried it past Petri Pitkanen to make it 3-1.

Wudrick added another four minutes later after Toulmin broke into the Dogs’ offensive zone and drew his man across, isolating Wudrick and Pitkanen in the process and allowing Wudrick to tap in Toulmin’s feed to make it 3-2.

Ice Dogs play intense game coming away with the W. Photo: Phil Taylor

19 seconds later, Cam Todd tied the game and silence fell across the O’Brien Group Arena.  After digging the puck at the half-wall, Todd managed to get the puck out to James Marino at the point who fired one on net. Pitkanen made the save but the puck slipped out of his glove and Todd was waiting to pounce, bringing the score to 3-3 heading in to

Strong goaltending from Curtis Skip proved a strong platform for the Dogs to build into the third period.

Both teams had good chances to ice the game in the third frame but it was Ice Dogs’ debutant Brian Kolodziecyzk who would get the eventual game winner. The Belgium native, who was playing his first game in Sydney colours for the 2018 AIHL season, broke into the Mustangs’ zone with speed dropping a pass off to Toulmin. Kolodziecyzk got it right back from Toulmin and put it into a yearning net to make it 4-2 and give the Ice Dogs’ the ascendancy.

Sean Jones added a late one for the Mustangs and his 5^th of the season but it would prove to be too late, as the Dogs would go on to claim the 3 points and keep within range of the top of the AIHL ladder.

Skip stopped 33 of 36 shots picking up the win while Petri Pitkanen stopped 16 of 20 in the loss.

The Mustangs finished 1 for 5 on the Power Play while the Ice Dogs failed to convert on their three Power Play opportunities.

Toulmin a strong mover and shaker for the Ice Dogs. Photo: Phil Taylor

The Ice Dogs now move to 2-0 in the season series against the Mustangs, with the next meeting between the clubs not until 22^nd July back at the O’Brien Group Arena.