By Kris Smith
The Stars make their first trip to the Utilita Arena this evening and aim to claim their first win over the Steelers this year.
In their only previous contest of the season, two early goals helped the Yorkshire club to take away two points from Dundee.
Those goals came from Robert Down and Adrian Saxrud-Danielsen to give the Steelers a 2-0 lead after the first period, before Connor Sills made it a one-goal game in the second.
Then some outstanding goaltending from Sheffield’s Rok Stojanovic and Dundee’s Adam Morrison meant there would be no change to the score.
The Steelers have dealt with a few injuries to star players over the past few weeks but they bounced back to claim a 3-1 win in Guildford against the Flames last Sunday.
However, they also powered past Cardiff Devils yesterday evening, beating the Welsh side 5-3 after leading 4-0.
Meanwhile, the Stars showed their dominance on home ice by beating Nottingham Panthers 4-1, with goals coming from Philippe Sanche, Sebastian Bengtsson (2) and Spencer Dorowicz.
Discussing the road game in Sheffield, Stars Head Coach, Omar Pacha said: “It is going to be a tough game.
“Sheffield away is always difficult but for us, we just have to focus on playing well and building off our last road game, which was a win against Belfast Giants.
“We played really well against them in the first game and were extremely unlucky not to get anything but if we play the same game, then I am confident that we will get something out of it on Sunday.”
Canadian forward Connor Sills then shared his thoughts on how the Stars must treat tonight’s match and what they must do to get a result against the league leaders.
He said: “I think having a good game against any team in this league really helps build confidence for the next matchup.
“Personally, I did not think Sheffield were anything that special, so I know if we play the way we can we will give them a lot of trouble.
“So, it is definitely import to seize these opportunities, but we know we cannot take them lightly or be concerned with how many players they have injured.
“We just need to stick with our game plan and the result will speak for itself.”
Sills continued: “I think as a team we just try to maintain some of that confidence that we have built up over last weekend.
“We have to take the positives and try to cut out even more of the negatives, stay focused on our game plan and work from the d-zone out.”
Face-off time for tonight’s match in Sheffield is at 4pm.
