By Kris Smith
The Stars and Flyers met in Kirkcaldy on Saturday, with Jeff Mason’s side claiming a 3-0 road win over their arch rivals.
Dundee’s Philippe Sanche struck first on 12 minutes, as he converted a powerplay to put the visitors ahead and in the second period, Elijiah Barriga doubled the lead with another powerplay goal in the 36th minute.
The Stars then went 3-0 ahead when Chris Gerrie made a quick start to the third period, by beating Shane Owen with a low shot after 42 minutes.
Stars then went on to beat Glasgow Clan 4-3 last Sunday, with Ryan Verrier opening the scoring after four minutes for Dundee, but Glasgow would take a 2-1 lead, following goals from Nolan LaPorte and Mitch Jones.
However, Colin Joe hit a quick double past Zach Driscoll to put the home side back ahead before the end of the second period, but Gary Haden drew the Clan back on level terms in the 43rd minute.
Although, Dundee secured the win with a late shorthanded goal as Barriga tapped in a rebound at the back post, just a minute from time.
Heading into tonight’s game, the Stars will be missing the injured trio of Ben Sokay, Craig Garrigan and recently side-lined defenseman, Kris Inglis, who is out with a short-term lower body injury.
Meanwhile, the Flyers were without Jonas Emmerdahl, Mikael Johansson, Simon Fernholm, Chris Lawrence and the recently departed, Scott Jamieson from their line-up last Saturday, but Fife are expected to have a much larger squad for tonight’s match.
Speaking about his expectations for tonight’s match, Stars Head Coach, Jeff Mason said: “We just want to keep improving and get better in the areas that we feel we can improve on.
“I thought there were a lot of things that we did really well against Fife on Saturday night and the idea now is to try and continue with those and clean up some of the areas that we can be better at.
“I fully expect Fife to be better and they will have more players, which means they will have a bit more jump and a bit more energy, which means they can play in a different way.
“So for us, it is all about limiting time and space and trying to not give them anything, and making them earn everything they get.”
Mason continued: “It is a big match up against our biggest rivals, but we are staying focused on continuing to build what we have here.
“Obviously, four points last weekend, was a very good start and we want to keep moving in that direction, as with the Challenge Cup, you want to put as many points on the board as early as you can.
“So, that is the main goal but at the same time, I expect Fife to come out hard and be much improved compared to the team that we played Saturday night and I expect them to have some more players in the line-up, and they are also a team who went into Glasgow and beat the Clan, the night before they last played us.”
Defenseman, Devon Daniels also explained how the Stars are still focusing on better defending, despite their two wins at the weekend.
He said: “We have been looking at video and reviewing our play from the past weekend, we were pretty happy about it, but there are some things we can still tighten up.
“We are always looking for ways to make our d-zone better and break the puck out and fox some of the mistakes we have made, so we can play a better game and get the win on Thursday.”
The Canadian also shared his excitement for the busy end to this week as the squad believe they achieve a lot of success in the next three games.
Devon added: “It is obviously another big chance to get more wins in the Challenge Cup this weekend and then start our regular season the right way on Sunday, which will be exciting.
“So, we are just looking to keep going with the way we have been playing, stay positive and keep getting better every game, then hopefully the results keep coming.”
Face-off for tonight’s game is at 7:30pm.
Banner image: Flyers Images.
