By Kris Smith
The Stars were 6-3 victors last night in Glasgow as they sunk the Clan with a three-goal third period, after a battling first 40 minutes.
Glasgow’s Craig Peacock got his first goal of the night as he put the home side ahead on six minutes, but the Stars would answer back through Elijiah Barriga in the 16th minute, before taking the lead three minutes later via Fabrizio Ricci’s redirected effort.
The second period then saw Nolan LaPorte fire past Anton Svensson on his Dundee Stars debut to draw the Clan level inside 34 minutes, but Hugo Reinhardt provided a quick response, as he turned the puck over Zach Driscoll, two minutes later.
However, Malcolm Cameron’s men tied the game once again and it took just one minute for Peacock to net his second, as John Dunbar lofted pass banked off the Brit and dropped into the Dundee net.
Although, a dominant third period from the Tayside team quickly set the tone against a tiring Clan side, as after only 13 seconds, Barriga shot into a gaping goal for his brace and 27 seconds later, Drydn Dow added a fifth goal for Dundee.
Then inside the final minute, Ryan Verrier converted on the powerplay to punish Gergely Toth for his poor discipline and ended the scoring at 6-3.
Meanwhile, the Flyers had a night off after they were beaten 5-3 on Friday night by Glasgow and after the opening 20 minutes, Clan were 2-0 up through goals from LaPorte and Mathieu Roy.
Then after two periods, the score was 4-1 to Glasgow, with Fife’s Janne Laakkonen cutting the lead to one before Mitch Jones and Colton Waltz added two more for the visitors.
The hosts continued to cut into the Clan’s lead in the third period and made it a 4-3 game as Brayden Sherbinin and Dillon Lawrence both found the net, but Toth slid home a fifth for Glasgow to seal the victory.
Tonight, will also see the reunion of some former players on both sides with their old clubs as defenseman, Erik Näslund competes against the Flyers for the first time since leaving the Kirkcaldy club this summer.
Also, three former Stars will return to the Dundee Ice Arena, as forwards, Chris Lawrence and Bari McKenzie extended their stays in Fife, while centerman, Dillon Lawrence crossed the River Tay this summer to join the Flyers.
Looking ahead to his derby debut, Stars Head Coach, Jeff Mason said: “I think tonight is about us playing to our identity and doing the things we want to do.
“I expect another good atmosphere and I thought it was a great atmosphere last week against Belfast but that will ramp up for being the big local rivalry.
“Fife look like a team that have improved on paper and will be a much more difficult test this year, so I think both teams will be competing hard, as we have an extra week and a couple games on them.
“So, I hope that we will be able to be a bit sharper in some of the areas and then continue on with some of the real positives that we saw last night and last weekend.”
Then Swedish blueliner, Näslund expressed his excitement about returning to the derby atmosphere and his reunion with the Flyers.
He said: “It is going to be an exciting game of course, it is always fun to go back and play teams you used to be on and to be playing against them this early in the season will be exciting.
“I am looking forward to it, although there are not many guys from last year who are still there but the coaches are still there, the staff and the fans.”
Erik continued: “The rivalry games between Dundee and Fife last year was one of the most exciting games during the season and I am looking forward to being a part of that again this year, so it will be fun to play on the other side and battle against Flyers.
“I think they will play a different way this year, but we just have to focus on our own game and it feels like if you do that then you are more likely to be successful.”
Face-off for Sunday’s home game against Fife is at 5pm.
