By Kris Smith
The Stars must win tonight in order to avoid depending on any other results but if they were to lose in any form, they cannot lose a tie-breaker against Glasgow Clan so long as they match results and Dundee need Nottingham Panthers to drop points or win outside of regulation.
Dundee need to find a bounce-back performance tonight after slipping up on home ice last night and allowing the Flyers to qualify with a 6-2 victory in front of the sold-out DIA.
The Stars had gone in front on nine minutes as Spencer Naas and Ryan Valentini combined with the latter firing home a squared pass but the Flyers would equalise two minutes later through Kevin Wehrs long-range effort.
In the second period, Kyle Osterberg won the puck behind the Dundee goal before circling to the front and scoring on his own rebound to put the visitors in front but Jake Elmer would be next to finish off a cross-goal pass and tie the game inside 24 minutes.
Although, Fife again responded quickly as Osterberg beat Lucas Brine again, this time shovelling one through the keeper’s legs as he drove towards goal and in the 32nd minute, Teemu Pulkkinen was left unmarked on the doorstep of the Dundee net and had time and space to pull the puck around Brine to make it 4-2.
The third period then saw the Flyers put the game to bed as Colin Shirley tapped home the rebound from Troy Lajeunesse’s saved effort on 46 minutes and whilst the Stars forced Fife netminder, Shane Owen into making 60 saves on the night, Osterberg would then complete his hat-trick in the 56th minute with a low effort past Brine.
Tonight, the Stars are looking to claim their third win of the season in Kirkcaldy and also have three players pushing for big milestones as Ryan Valentini (59 points) and Spencer Naas (58 points) are both targeting the 60-point mark, whilst Jake Elmer is only one point away from hitting 30 in the regular season.
Speaking after last night’s defeat at home to Fife, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We played right into their hands, we played the game they wanted to play and they want to play run-and-gun, open things up and get guys in behind and we played right into it.
“We did not keep things simple, we wanted to play this stretch game for some reason and we played right into their hands all night and next thing you know it is in the back of our net.
“We had plenty chances to score and we have to capitalise on those but we have beaten that team four times this season because we played the right way and limited their chances.
“Tomorrow it is all to play for and we have to win one game, just one game and it is in a building where we have won twice this season.
“We know it is a hostile building and that they have a good team over there, so we cannot play into their hands, we have to play our game and simplify things.”
Face-off for tonight’s game in Kirkcaldy is at 5:15pm.
