By Kris Smith
Stars lost out on the road against the Devils last night, now they are ready to bounce back against their Scottish rivals and get back on track.
The Kitmart Dundee Stars won last night’s first period 2-1, despite being 1-0 down inside the first minute. Goals from Connor Cox and Lukas Lundvald lifted Dundee into the lead, although Cardiff hit back with an equalising goal in the second period. Andrew Lord’s men bagged three in the third period to seal the two points.
Defeat for Glasgow last night put an end to their Challenge Cup hopes as Dundee secured their place in the knockout stages with a game left to play, which they play in Glasgow on Tuesday. Rasmus Bjerrum, Travis Ehrhardt and Gerard Hanson provided the three goals for Clan last night, as they drew level against Belfast three times before conceding what would be the game-winning-goal with just two seconds left in regulation time to lose 4-3.
Pete Russel’s team played three games last weekend and it kicked-off with a 2-1 win over Fife on Friday, with goals from Hanson and Josh Gratton. This was followed by a 4-2 win away to Sheffield, where Craig Peacock (2), Scott Pitt, Scott Tanski all found themselves on the score sheet. Their triple header concluded with a 6-2 loss on the road against Manchester, where Brendan Connolly netted both goals. Over the three games, Joel Rumpel made 81 saves.
Last time Dundee and Glasgow met, Stars claimed a 2-1 home win thanks to goals from Jordan Cownie and Matt Marquardt.
Connolly leads the Glasgow team in points with a total of 11 from 11 league and cup games and from 7 league appearances, Rumpel holds a 3.22 goals against average and a 904, save percentage.
Stars remain short of just one import, as Bissonnette is going to be side-lined for a few weeks, while the notable miss for Clan last night was their captain, Zack Fitzgerald.
Defenceman Shown Boutin expects a challenge from Glasgow, he said: “I think it was the type of game that we played good Stars hockey and came out on top.
“They have a good line up and I am sure they only got better since the beginning of this season, so we will have to be ready for a good battle.”
The Canadian also feels that the team “deserve” some points.
He added: “We are ready to give our fans some good hard-working Stars hockey.
“We need to respect our game plan that Coach Pach puts in place and play with emotions and desire to win.”
“We have been playing decent hockey but we feel like we deserve a positive result on Sunday.”
Stars started strong defensively this season and Shawn shared his thoughts on the defensive core of the team.
He said: “I am happy with our efforts every night, I think defensively we have been good and a big part of it is Pontus (Sjögren).
“I think we deserve a better result and in order to get that we need to put our working boots on, have fun and give our fans a good show.”
Face-off is at 5pm and tickets are still available from the DIA box office and online.
