By Kris Smith
The Stars secured two crucial points against Glasgow Clan on Friday night as they defeated their Scottish rivals 5-1 at the Braehead Arena and moved up from ninth to seventh, which has made it a four-way tie of teams on 47 points.
Coventry Blaze, Dundee, Fife Flyers and Glasgow are level in a scrap for sixth place and a chance to play the number three seed in the playoffs, with the Blaze currently holding that position due to their game in hand on the three Scottish sides.
Last night in Glasgow, the Stars skated to what was a comfortable victory after going 2-0 up in the first period, thanks to goals from Carter Johnson on 10 minutes and Spencer Naas in the 16th minute.
The Clan did hit back just 26 second after conceding as Ryan Harrison got them off the mark but in the second period, Drydn Dow’s powerplay goal inside 28 minutes restored Dundee’s two-goal lead and they carried that over to the third session.
However, the Taysiders had to kill off an uninterrupted, five-minute penalty in the middle period as Brendan Harms was thrown out of the game for alleged spear on former Star, Philippe Sanche, but Dundee kept the Clan’s powerplay quiet for the whole night.
Brent Beaudoin would add the Stars fourth goal on 47 minutes as he took his points tally to three for the night, in what would be a ‘Man of the Match’ performance by the American and in the final two minutes, Naas secured the points with his second goal of the night, as he shot off the post and in to break the club’s record for most goals scored by a single player in an EIHL season.
Tonight. the Stars welcome the Storm to Tayside as they play Matt Ginn’s side for the final time in the regular season and they can take a clean sweep of victories at home, splitting the season series at seven points each if they take a regulation win.
Dundee were 3-2 (shootout) and 4-1 winners at home this season but were beaten 4-1 in Altrincham during their last encounter with Manchester back on the March 1.
The last meeting at the DIA was back in late November as Ryan Valentini, Naas, Anthony Rinaldi and James Phelan all found the back of the net, whilst Samuel Tremblay bagged the English outfits only goal.
Leading the Stars in scoring against the Storm is the league-leading goal scorer, Naas with his seven points (2G, 5A) in five matches, whilst both Tyler Hinam and Matt Murphy have racked up five points against Dundee this season.
Speaking after last night’s win in Glasgow, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “It was a playoff atmosphere, we knew it was going to be a tough battle all night.
“There was a lot of pushback by both teams in a physical game, both goalies got ran over a couple times but that is what you expect with a playoff atmosphere.
“We took advantage of a couple powerplays but I am very proud of this group overall.”
Switching the focus to tonight’s home game against Manchester, he continued: “It cannot stop here.
“We know Manchester are a tough team to play, they play their systems really well, they clog things up in the neutral zone and make things tough for every team.
“You see the results they have been getting lately, so we know it is going to be a difficult game.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game is at 7pm and you can buy your tickets HERE!
