By Kris Smith
After four games, of 12 in the group stage, Dundee sit second on five points, one behind Sunday’s opponents Belfast, who have picked up a maximum six points from their first three contests.
Adam Keefe’s men have already done battle twice against the Stars this season, winning the opening competitive game for both teams 7-3 in Dundee and also last weekend’s 6-5 overtime victory across the Irish Sea.
Last weekend, the Stars pushed Belfast Giants into overtime on Saturday night in Northern Ireland but would concede the deciding goal with only one minute left in the extra period, to lose the match 6-5.
Jake Elmer, Brendan Harms (2), Kameron Kielly and Cole MacDonald all found the back of the net in Belfast as the Stars bounced back from falling 1-0 behind in the opening 30 seconds to take a 3-1 lead after the first period.
The Giants would then win the second session 3-1 to send both teams into the third stanza tied at 4-4 and after going behind again, Dundee replied with a powerplay goal to keep the score level at 5-5.
Last night, the Stars hosted the Storm in their opening league fixture and despite mounting a third period comeback, they would lose 5-4 to the English club.
Dundee had gone 1-0 up inside the opening two minutes through Jonathan McBean but the Storm hit back with two goals from Alex Robert and Grant Hebert to take the lead after the first period.
Mike Flanagan’s side then built their lead out to 4-1 in the middle session with more goals from Craig Martin and Stephen Johnson, before the Stars finally hit back with a powerplay goal through Zach Tsekos.
However, Jake Durflinger then restored the Storm’s three-goal cushion heading into the third period but the Stars would cut into the lead once again Alex Tonge blasted one past Evan Weninger, then moments later they scored again but Tsekos’ second of the night would be disallowed for a kicking motion.
Jake Elmer would then score Dundee’s fourth as he beat Weninger at his near post and the Stars then threw everything at finding a winner but Manchester would hold on to claim the 5-4 victory and the two points.
Speaking after last night’s defeat to Manchester in the league, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We played hard for a total of 23 minutes tonight and you cannot do that anymore, the league is too good now.
“Teams will capitalise on your mistakes, we were just sloppy at times and had too many passengers but we had some guys that played hard however we are not good enough for guys to take nights off.”
Switching the focus to tonight’s cup contest against Belfast, he continued: “They are one team you cannot make mistakes against because they will punish you and we have to keep it simple and play our game.
“We know they are a good hockey team, we have seen them twice already this year but we also know that we can play with them, we saw that last week, so we need to just put the performance together for a full 60 minutes.”
Stars forward, Jonathan McBean scored the first goal last night and reflecting on the match, he said: “It was good to get one early, we wanted to get out there and get the first one but we just did not build on it.
“We let them back into it and the game went the other way because we let them get ahead.”
Discussing the match-up with Belfast, he added: “The first goal is always key, it puts you in the right direction off the bat and it sets you up to build from that, so hopefully we can do that against Belfast.
“In the last few games, we have probably given them too much in front and around the net and they have buried their chances, so we have to clear the slot and keep the shots to the perimeter then try to do our job at the other end.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game against Belfast is at 5pm.
All images: Derek Black.
