By Kris Smith
The Stars are looking to add to their four league points already amassed through six matches and after an improved run of form lately, they will be fancying their chances against a side they defeated on the road.
Last weekend, Dundee were 7-0 winners on Friday night in the Tayside Derby as they blanked the Flyers on home ice to move above them in Group B of the Challenge Cup and will face their oldest foes again on Sunday south of the River Tay.
Alex Tonge, Brett Gravelle (2), Cole MacDonald, Ben O’Connor and Domenic Alberga (2) all found a way past Shane Owen in the Fife goal last week but the Canadian keeper would then be swapped out for Latvian, Voris Janis the following night as Tom Coolen’s side went down 7-4 in Kirkcaldy against Guildford Flames.
Dundee then went down to Nottingham on Saturday and despite letting their 1-0 lead slip with two goals conceded in eight seconds, they bounced back to secure a 5-2 victory and two vital league points.
Tonge, O’Connor, Kameron Kielly, Drydn Dow and Keanu Yamamoto all chipped in with the goals as Richard Sabol backstopped the team to their second straight win of the weekend, however despite a good effort through the first half of Wednesday’s road game against Sheffield Steelers, Sabol and the Stars were beaten 6-1.
The Taysiders had shutdown the Steelers offence for the first 34 minutes and held a 1-0 lead thanks to another goal from captain Dow but eventually last season’s treble winners broke through and would score three goals in 90 seconds before adding a further treble of strikes in the third period.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We have to play greasy like we did on the road in Nottingham and I thought our first period in Sheffield was excellent but we got away from what we were doing and they took advantage.
“So, if we can stick with how we played in Nottingham and what we did in the first in Sheffield then we will win a lot of hockey games but we cannot play pretty hockey because when we play pretty hockey, we get exposed.”
He continued: “We just have to stick to the game plan and if we do that, we will be fine because we want to keep crawling up the standings and the only way to do that is by playing the way we played last Friday and Saturday.
“It is simple, hard hockey and not trying to make these flashy plays at the bluelines or up the middle of the ice because we will expose teams but when we try to do this razzle dazzle nonsense we get exposed quickly, so a commitment to keeping it simple is all we need to have success.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game is at 7pm.
All images: Panthers images.
