By Kirs Smith
The Stars will host the Giants in the last game of a double header for the second New Year’s Eve in a row and last Hogmanay, Belfast were 2-0 up in Dundee before a third period brace from Spencer Naas drew the Taysiders level.
Marc LeFebvre’s men went on to win after a penalty shootout and now they chase the same result but need to bounce back from yesterday’s 5-2 loss in Belfast.
Scott Conway’s powerplay goal has the Giants in front on 14 minutes before Grant Mismash doubled the lead early in the second period, but Dundee would pull a goal back through Zach Tsekos to make it 2-1 after 27 minutes.
Although, Bobo Carpenter would restore the two-goal advantage with a shorthanded strike in the 35th minute but once again the Taysiders cut the lead back down to one as Jake Elmer cashed in on the powerplay, inside 47 minutes.
As the Stars pushed for an equaliser, the home team would find the breathing room they needed with less than three minutes to play as J.J. Piccinich converted on a breakaway and four seconds from time, Pierre-Olivier Morin hit an empty net to clinch the 5-2 victory for Belfast.
Dundee had made a few changes to their line-up before last night’s match as Canadian forward, Domenic Alberga dropped out and two-way player, Josh Saunders came in on the fourth line, as well as netminder Richard Sabol moving back in between the pipes.
Speaking after last night’s loss in Belfast, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “I thought we battled hard, we had to weather the storm a few times against a very good team tonight but we battled back and made it a one-goal game in the third period.
“We just could not find that third one to equalise and obviously their fourth one, with only a couple minutes left, is a killer but I cannot fault our effort tonight.
“We have a quick turnaround here and we play these guys again tomorrow on our home ice and we need to get two points.”
Face-off for this afternoon’s home game is at 2pm.
All images: Derek Black.
