By Kris Smith
The Stars are in the Welsh capital after putting on a entertaining display on home ice yesterday, as they battered their bitter rivals, Fife Flyers 6-0.
The Stars won their final regular season home game in front of an almost capacity crowd and moved back into fifth place in the Elite League table – where they hope to remain after this weekend.
Tonight’s game in Cardiff is the penultimate game of the league campaign and two-points tonight, along with other results could secure Dundee’s place in the top five, but if not then they must battle Coventry Blaze for it on Sunday in the SkyDome Arena.
Last night, Toms Rutkis and goaltender, Adam Morrison returned to action after another spell of absence through injury and Morrison marked his return with a shutout performance.
Quinn O’Brien was a healthy scratch, as he was selected as the spare import that had to sit out and he joined the injured, Craig Garrigan in the stands.
However, the pair were able to watch a dazzling display from their teammates, as Philippe Sanche opened the scoring on eight minutes, by netting from his own rebound.
In the second period, Dillon Lawrence lifted a stunning backhand shot into the top corner to make it 2-0 after 23 minutes and then Spencer Dorowicz tapped in a loose rebound to make it 3-0 in the 26th minute.
Defenseman, Michael Poirier was next to add his name to the scoring, when he rushed in at the back post to poke the puck under Shane Owen on 34 minutes and the Stars then continued to show no mercy in the third period.
Dorowicz bagged his brace after slipping a shot under the shoulder of Owen, inside 43 minutes and Charlie Combs then found the net from out on the left wing, with a low shot just over a minute later.
Stars Head Coach, Omar Pacha will be looking for a similar performance at Ice Arena Wales tonight and so far this season, Dundee have both won and lost in their two league encounters away to the Devils.
Sebastian Bengtsson netted twice to give the Tayside team a 2-1 victory back in December, but Sanche was the only Star to score when they were beaten 7-1 on the first of this month.
Speaking about the challenges of tonight’s match and how the Stars plan to approach the crucial fixture, netminder, Adam Morrison said: “We are looking to build off what we accomplished last night.
“Obviously it is a long trip but at this time of year it is important to bear down and find consistency in our game and make sure we are prepared to play.”
With the chance to secure fifth place with victories in Cardiff and Coventry, Morrison added: “We are still just taking things one game at a tine but we are confident in our ability against any team in this league.
“Looking past tonight’s game is not something we want to get into, we just want to focus on what we know we can accomplish and forget about the other games and let things shake out how they are supposed to.”
Face-off for tonight’s game in Cardiff is at 7pm.
