By Kris Smith
The Stars were narrowly beaten 3-2 at home by Guildford Flames on Wednesday night as they failed to make their 45 shots on goal count and that means they remain in ninth place heading into the weekend.
The Stars had fallen behind in the second period but Ryan Valentini and Spencer Naas would both score less than two minutes apart to put them 2-1 ahead.
However, the Flames scored inside the final minute of the second period and would score the winner with 10 minutes left to play in the third session.
Dundee currently sit on 44 points after 47 games, but are only one point behind Glasgow in seventh, who have also played 47 matches, so a win over their rivals could move the Stars as high as sixth place.
The Clan are yet to beat Dundee at home in league play but did claim a 4-1 victory during the Challenge Cup Group Stage before losing 4-2 when the Taysiders returned in December.
In six meetings so far this season, Marc LeFebvre’s men came out on top in four of them and have outscored the Braehead side, 25-18.
The last clash between the two Scottish foes was at the end of February as Dundee stormed to a 7-3 victory on home ice, with James Phelan, Jake Elmer, Naas (2), Valentini, Carter Johnson and Anthony Rinaldi all on the scoresheet.
Speaking after Wednesday’s loss, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “The effort was there, we had 45 shots on net but we have to find a way to put those pucks in the back of the net and we now have to regroup ahead of Friday.
“Both goaltenders played well and gave both teams a chance to win tonight, but it was just a manner of execution at the net front and we just did not have that at the end.
“All we can do right now is pick ourselves up and get ready for battle in Glasgow on Friday, we cannot dwell on this or change the score, so we just have to be ready for Friday.”
Then discussing tonight’s trip to Glasgow, he added: “We have to move forward and get ready for another playoff type game in a tough building, against a playoff rival.
“There is a lot of runway left here at this point of the season but we need those points tonight.”
Face-off time for tonight’s game is Glasgow is at 7:30pm.
All images: Al Goold.
