By Kris Smith
The Stars have currently averaged a point per game through five fixtures and sit three points behind Belfast Giants, who have taken maximum points from their opening four matches.
This weekend’s opponents for Dundee, Fife Flyers and Glasgow Clan sit just behind Marc LeFebvre’s side, with the Flyers two points back on three after four games and the Clan have two points from three contests.
Tonight, the Stars cross the River Tay to face Fife for only the second time in competitive action this season but they have yet to lose in any of their three previous meetings against their biggest rivals, including two preseason matches.
Just two weeks ago, Dundee put together a three-point weekend after claiming a point in Belfast from an overtime defeat before then beating the Flyers at home, 3-2 after penalties.
Domenic Alberga, Kameron Kielly and Keanu Yamamoto all got on the scoresheet against Tom Coolen’s men, whilst Austin Farley netted a brace against Jarrett Fiske in the Stars goal.
However, last weekend saw the Taysiders form take a dive as they lost twice on home ice, firstly 5-4 to Manchester Storm on Saturday in their opening league fixture before the Giants skated to a 5-0 win at the DIA on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Flyers have also struggled lately and are on a five game losing run, with a 5-1 road loss to Cardiff Devils following from their shootout loss in Dundee and last Sunday, they were beaten 8-5 in Kirkcaldy by Glasgow.
The Clan picked up their first win in four games against Fife and now play their first home game of the season tonight against Cardiff, before travelling to Tayside tomorrow to take on the Stars.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Scottish Derbies, captain Dow said: “It is a big weekend for us, we were not happy with how last weekend went so we know we need to work hard throughout practice this week and focus on doing the right things again.
“It is a big weekend for us and getting points will be huge if we want to move forward in the cup.
“We know Fife are a very offensively talented team so we need to make sure to play tight and together, they play with speed and are good on the counter, so we know we need to limit our mistakes and not give them anything off the rush.”
He continued: “As I said before these points are huge for us if we want to progress in the cup, but it is really important in these early games that we focus on playing the right way and playing for a complete 60 minutes.”
Face-off for tonight’s road game in Kirkcaldy is at 7:15pm.
All images: Flyers Images.
