By Kris Smith
The Stars and the Flyers met in Dundee on Saturday night and Marc LeFebvre’s men ran out 4-2 winners in what was an encouraging first showing of his new squad.
The first period would be scoreless but not from a lack of trying as the Stars could have opened up a big lead but Jarrett Fiske still had some work to do in the Dundee net.
Domenic Alberga would finally open the scoring in the 27th minute as defenseman, Cole MacDonald’s long-stretch pass played him in behind on a breakaway and Alberga tucked his shot past Shane Owen.
Tom Coolen’s men responded with an equaliser just before the end of the second period as they cashed in on a powerplay with Dundee’s Xavier Pouliot in the box for charging and Drake Pilon lifted home a loose rebound after Fiske made a pair of saves.
In the third period, Alex Tonge restored the Stars lead as he buried Brendan Harms’ pass from behind the net, beating subbed-on netminder, Brython Preece on 44 minutes.
Harms would then add his own name to the scoresheet on the 50-minute mark as he deflected Zach Tsekos’ shot into the bottom corner and Dundee’s lead would extend to 4-1 inside 55 minutes when Preece could not hold Brett Gravelle’s effort and the Fife goalie dropped it across the line.
Fife’s Tyler Heidt banked the puck into the Dundee net off of teammate, Austin Farley and that brought the Flyers back to within two goals with less than four-minutes to play but that would be as close as they got.
Reflecting on the performance, Stars Head Coach, LeFebvre said: “There were lots of positives and lots of things to work on and that we can build on.
“The morale was really good and we sent the fans to happy, it was good for the guys to get that first victory at home and even though it is preseason you still want to win so we can only build from here.
“We are at the start of a journey here and it started tonight.”
Looking ahead to tonight’s game in Fife, he continued: “We always get a warm welcome when we go in there but it will be good for our guys to get used to that atmosphere in Fife, it can be pretty hostile at times but we look forward to the challenge every time.
“Tonight we will go home, get a good rest and get ready to win again tomorrow, we know it will be another tough game and they are a different team in their building and I am sure they want to put on a good showing for their fans so we have to be ready.”
After scoring the first goal of the new season, forward Domenic Alberga talked through that moment: “It was a great pass by MacDonald and I just put my head down and tired to beat the goalie.
“It was a great feeling obviously to get the first one out of the way but there is still a lot of work for us to do as a team, so we will see where tomorrow takes us.”
Sharing his thoughts on his first experience of playing at the DIA, he added: “That was incredible and a lot of fun, for me that first game here was really enjoyable.
“We will get into better shape; it was only the first game so it was a step in the right direction and as long as we are putting one foot forward at a time then it will be a good year for us.”
Discussing tonight’s trip to Fife, Alberga said: “It will be a tough challenge obviously, it is our first back-to-back games but we have a good group of guys and we have had a good week of camp.
“So, we will just see what happens and we will go in there and try do what we did tonight but also step it up another notch and see what happens.”
Face-off for tonight’s game is at 5:15pm and there will be no webcast.
Dundee (1-0-0) Tonge 1G, 1A – Harms 1G, 1A – Tsekos 2A – Alberga 1G – Gravelle 1G – Fiske 30 SVS.
Fife (0-1-0) Pilon 1G – Farley 1G – Owen 10 SVS – Preece 23 SVS.
All images: Derek Black.
