By Kris Smith
The Stars meet the Panthers for the first time this season tonight and they head into the Motorpoint Arena off the back of a 7-0, shutout victory in the Tayside Derby last night as they hammered Fife Flyers at home.
A sensational passing move involving Keanu Yamamoto, Domenic Alberga and Alex Tonge, with the latter finishing it off had Dundee 1-0 in front after only 82 seconds of play.
Brett Gravelle would then tip Drydn Dow’s effort past Shane Owen to double the lead on 13 minutes as the home team took their two-goal cushion into the second period and just six minutes after the restart, defenseman Cole MacDonald added his name to the scoresheet as he skated onto Yamamoto’s pass and buried his shot into the back of the net from the slot.
Fellow blueliner, Ben O’Connor would then join in on the scoring as he netted his first goal in Stars colours with a quick release from the between the circles and in the 34th minute, Brett Gravelle would make it a brace for himself as he fired home the pass out in front from Kameron Kielly.
In the third period, Domenice Alberga would bag two for himself to bring the score to 7-0 and his first was a stunning first-time hit from the right circles that smacked the underside of the crossbar and dropped into the back of the Flyers net, before he then converted on a breakaway by shooting straight past Owen.
At the other end of the ice, Richard Sabol was made to work for his shutout, saving all 44 attempts from the Flyers but they were not all easy as he produced a number of highlight reel saves to keep Tom Coolen’s side off the scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Danny Stewart’s men have bounced back from a pair of defeats by producing a pair of wins against Fife and Cardiff Devils, with their 3-2 win over the Welsh club being their only outing in the last week.
Speaking after last night’s emphatic shutout victory, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We implemented a few things this week and the guys know we have to get rolling now, whether it is in the cup or the league, so it was a total team effort tonight.
“We gave up a quite a few shots but kept them mostly to the outside and it is human nature to get a little bit sloppy at times, although to put up seven goals at home and get a shutout, it is hard for me to complain about anything.
“The main thing is that we keep developing habits here and keep building, we are starting to build now after winning two of our last three matches and our last four games have probably been overall our best four games, but maybe not in Cardiff and we play Sheffield close for 50 minutes and that gets us going.
“We played okay in Cardiff but in Guildford were down 4-1 and we find a way back, which was the character of the team from last year and we just keep playing and found a way to get two big points on the road in the league.”
Ahead of tonight’s trip to the Motorpoint Arena, he continued: “It is going to be loud in there, we know they have a lot of speed and experience on that team and they have had a god start to their season for the most part, so like any game it will be a challenge.
“They have four good lines, good goaltending and depth all over their line-up, you see some of the results they have had this season but we just have to be ready to play.
“We know we need to get some points in the league and keep climbing up that table, it is a long season, so it is a long grind but it is our only league game this week and we have to go in there and get something out of it.”
After scoring his first goal for Dundee, defender Ben O’Connor said: “It was a long time coming, I have had some great opportunities but it was great to contribute and I am glad we got the win tonight.”
Looking at the game overall, he added: “It was a great result, we have been in the trenches for a bit and it seemed like the bounces were going our way tonight and combined with hard-work, it was nice to see it turnout like that for us.”
Then preparing for tonight’s match in a venue he is more than familiar with, Ben said: “They have had a good start, it is a hostile environment to go into but it is a fun place to play and after our result tonight we will be high and full of confidence so it should be a good game.”
Face-off for tonight’s road game in Nottingham is at 7pm.
All images: James Assinder/Derek Black.
