A late 2nd period Dundee Stars powerplay goal put them up by a pair and Flames never fully recovered the rest of the way during a 4-2 defeat on home ice.
Flames were unable to convert a 5 on 3 powerplay advantage before Stars had the only goal of the opening frame when Drydn Dow put them in front at 13:23.
Parick Bajkov levelled it at 22:16. Exactly a minute later, though, Stars were back in front on the back of a Ryan Valentini strike and 43 seconds from period time, Tommy Parrottino, with the man advantage, had them enjoying a 2 goal spread to begin the final set.
Another 5 on 3 for the home team was cashed in by Ryan Tait early in the 3rd to pull Flames within a goal, but Spencer Naas put one into the empty net 61 seconds from time as Flames used an extra skater in an effort to tie it.
Eamon McAdam handled 21 of 25 shots while Kevin Carr for Dundee turned away 36 of 38.
“In terms of possession and territorial play, we had a good chunk of it,” explained Head Coach Paul Dixon, “but there were stretches of sloppiness and being out worked and out competed along the way at different times that really cost us.”
“Dundee has a very skilled team and they pounce on mistakes, and that is exactly what they did tonight and got themselves a well earned win.”
“It is a disappointing outcome because we need to win hockey games to stay in the tightly packed table chase, but in the big picture things have gone pretty well for us for a good stretch of time, so we just need to figure out how to get back to that form as we go forward.”
“Definitely some things to look at and clean up for next time out, and that will be our focus in training this week as we get ready to go again.”
