SANFORD HAT-TRICK LEADS DEVILS OVER STARS

The Devils moved into second place in the Elite League with a road win in Dundee - but they were made to work hard for it by the Stars who came from behind twice to tie the game.

Captain Mark Richardson played his 1,000th Elite League game and the Dundee Stars recognised this with a pre-game presentation. 

Cole Sanford finished 1-on-0 thanks to a nice pass from Trevor Cox to put the Devils ahead with 14:44 played, a lead the visitors held into the first intermission.

Stefan Fournier then deked in front of Anton Svensson to make it 2-0 as the Devils again found a man free behind the Stars' defence at 21:10. The Stars pulled a goal back just 22 seconds later when Craig Garrigan’s shot from the slot beat Taran Kozun to make it 2-1.

Midway through the second period, Dundee tied things up through Philippe Sanche who made it 2-2 at 30:48. Sanford batted in a rebound off a blast from Marcus Crawford just 29 seconds later to put the Devils back in the lead 3-2.

Again the Stars hit back, this time through Ian Parker's tip on a Drydn Dow shot to make it 3-3 at 37:02 on the powerplay, leaving everything to play for going into the final period.

A perfect pass from Trevor Cox on a 2 on 1 to Sanford for his hat trick put the Devils back ahead at 44:36. Then with just under ten minutes to play, it was Cox again on a 2 on 1, this time setting up Joey Martin for the finish at 50:14 to put the Devils up 5-3.

The Stars pressed in the final ten minutes and Carter Folk made things interesting with 28 seconds left to play scoring on a breakaway past Kozun, but the Devils held on for the 5-4 win. 

Photos courtesy of Derek Black