By Kris Smith
After the Capitals stole the victory from underneath Omar Pacha and the Dundee Stars on a penalty shootout last Sunday, the Stars will look to return to their good start on home ice, although they will still be without Chris Lawrence, Patrick Lee and Marc-Olivier Mimar who are yet to arrive.
Dmitri Khristich’s team will look to improve on the first game, as they found themselves 2-0 down inside eight minutes. The Caps fought back to tie it up with less than three minutes to play, sending the game into overtime.
Looking ahead to the mid-week game, Omar Pacha said: “We are looking to build on the first weekend, I thought the guys progressed really well throughout the week with a lot of positives and we need to continue on the right path.
“We did well defensively by only conceding 2 goals a game, although we would like to see a bit more offensive output. Hopefully we can generate some more chances and that will result in more goals.“
Taylor Dickin bagged a goal against his former club and reflected on the weekend past: “I am feeling good after last weekend’s games, I thought we showed a lot of good things in the first weekend of games together.
“Saturday was a huge first test for us and for us to come out with a win in our first game together was awesome. Obviously it felt good to score in the last game but it would have been better if we got the win on top of that.” Taylor added: “We have already played Edinburgh the other day in an exhibition and know what to expect out of them, more importantly we just want to keep improving our game week to week and get to where we want to be.”
Mike Cazzola was one of the key dangermen for Edinburgh, he is a risk to every defence when he parks himself in front of goal and waits on the pass that will allow him to light the lamp. Dundee will need to find a way neutralise this threat as well as the one possessed by D-man, Michael D’Orazio, with his ability to find the net from any angle, he provides a key role in the Caps attack.
Many Stars skaters will be looking to bag their first goals of the season and at the other end, Travis Fullerton and Craig Holland would love to get a shutout this early into the season. Edinburgh, like Dundee, will also be missing a few skaters who have not arrived and Jay King is also likely to miss the game due to an injury sustained on Sunday.
Face-off is at 7:30pm and tickets are available both online and at the DIA box office. Tickets for tonights’s game are priced at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.