By Kris Smith
Stars face Braehead Clan in part two of this weekend’s double-header with the Glasgow team; Clan claimed a 3-1 at Intu Braehead last night.
Despite Dundee taking the lead in the first period, a late strike from Braehead tied it up before the first stanza concluded. Clan put the puck in the net twice more in the second period and that was enough to distance themselves from any comebacks Dundee could create in the third.
Gabriel Lévesque scored Dundee’s only goal of the night after tapping in a rebound from Cody Carlson’s shot on the powerplay. Landon Oslanski fired a snapshot from the blueline past Fullerton to tie the game, also on the powerplay. Brendan Brooks then batted in a rebound from mid-air to put his side ahead and Jacob Doty’s low shot from the blueline beat Fullerton to make it 3-1 to the home side.
Ill-discipline was the downfall of Dundee last night and that combined with a lack of creating attacking opportunities left Omar Pacha’s men frustrated. John Tripp’s men did not play the best game either as they were the less dominant team whilst 5-on-5 and gave up some good chances for Stars early on as they struggled to find their feet in the opening minutes.
Tyler Scofield looked dangerous at quite a few points in last evenings game as well as the big presence of Jacob Doty in front of goal and along the boards as he really took the physical play to the Stars.
Lukas Lundvald and Jimmy Jensen both used their speed to create good one-on-one’s and were unlucky not to score. Lévesque also looked dangerous around the net as the quick Canadian lurked in front of Ryan Nie’s goal waiting to sweep up any rebounds again.
Both goaltenders were the foundation of all the good work in last night’s game as each produced big saves at key times to keep the game tightly contested.
Last night’s result leaves Stars three points behind the Braehead but still with three games in hand, so a victory tonight will be huge in keeping Dundee’s playoff push on track.
Referees for tonight’s game are Steve Brown and Pavel Halas and they will be assisted by linesmen Dave Farren & Allan Ward. Tonight’s game is the first of the new ‘Social Sunday’s’ initiative where the earlier face-off time of 5pm comes into effect with a player autograph session in the bar after the match.
Talking after last night’s loss to the Clan, Gabriel Lévesque said: “We played an alright game last night, some decisions didn’t go our way and maybe we didn’t crash the net enough.
“I think we didn’t create enough offence but defensively we played well and I thought we were good in the first period but we had a bad second period and we were okay in the third.
“We will make little adjustments ahead of tonight but not that many, we want to be at the net more and try to generate more offence and that may be the only thing we change because we didn’t give them that many chances five-on-five.
“Staying out of the box as well, we are not a team that takes a lot of penalties.
“I think we are doing well at home and the big crowds help, you can see what it does to the guys in the locker room, they are more pumped, and I think we will play a good game.
“I am confident if we play our game and take less penalties than them we can come out with the win.”
Tickets for tonight’s game are available from the Dundee Ice Arena box office and online.
