Ice Dogs on a roll celebrate another road trip win. Photo: Paul Furness.

The Sydney Ice Dogs have taken 5 of a possible 6 points from their Melbourne road trip, with a 4-3 shootout win over the hapless Melbourne Ice at the O’Brien Group Arena.

The Ice were looking to halt a 6-game losing streak after succumbing to the Mustangs on Friday night. The Ice Dogs had dispatched the Mustangs the previous night 4-3 and were aiming for the full 6 points before boarding the flight home at Tullamarine.

Veteran Scott Corbett opened the scoring for the home team less than two minutes into the game. Corbett stripped James Marino of the puck at the blue line and then played the give-and-go with Sam Hodic, tipping one past Curtis Skip to make it 1-0 Melbourne Ice early on. It was Corbett’s second of the season and his first since the opening game of 2018 against Adelaide.

The Ice piled on the pressure in the first term, outshooting the Ice Dogs 18-6. They were denied at every turn by Skip, until Tommy Powell got in behind the Ice Dogs’ defence on a stretch pass from Dylan Anderson and slipped one past the Ice Dogs’ goaltender. It would finish 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

The Ice again scored early from the start of the period, this time on the power play. With Billy Cliff in the box for interference, Matt Armstrong fed a pass to Dillon Lawrence who was left unattended in front of Skip and backhanded one through the five-hole for a 3-0 Ice lead.

However, as has unfortunately been the norm for the Ice this season, their opposition found a way to come back into the game.

Grant Toulmin grabbed his 9^th goal of the season and his third point for the weekend, after a wide angle shot initially supplied by Alec Stephenson found space between Jayden Pine-Murphy and the post. The Dogs headed into the second intermission trailing by two but with a sniff of the points.

Toulmin was then the catalyst for the Dogs’ second goal, when he stole an Ice clearing attempt inside the blue line and steered it over to Brian Kolodziejcyzk who finished it effortlessly. It was now 3-2 with 17:14 to play in regulation and Ice supporters’ got that feeling of de ja vu.

Toulmin celebrates his 9th goal of the season. Photo: Paul Furness.

That intuition came to fruition with 8:48 remaining in regulation. Kolodziejcyzk scored a carbon copy of Powell’s first period goal, when he got in behind the Ice defence on a breakaway from a stretch pass from Alec Stephenson and scored on Pine-Murphy. It was his fourth point for the weekend and Stephenson’s second for the game.

The Ice Dogs were outshot 15-3 by the Ice in the final period of regulation but held on and forced the game to the shootout.

The Belgium native Kolodziejcyzk was again the hero for the Ice Dogs in just his second AIHL game, scoring the eventual shootout winner after Wudrick scored on the first shot and only Armstrong managed to tally for the Ice.

Skip saved 40 of 43 Ice shots in the win, while Pine-Murphy stopped 12 of 15.

The win captured 5 points for the Ice Dogs to move them to second on the AIHL ladder near the halfway point of the season.

The Ice have slumped to 7^th on the ladder with 7 defeats in a row, two of them in the shootout. They have not had a regulation win since the 5^th May over the Adelaide Adrenaline.

Both teams have an instant rematch in Sydney on Saturday 23^rd June at Macquarie.