By Kris Smith
The Stars enter their third last regular season match, still holding four-point lead over Manchester Storm in the battle for the final playoff berth but with both teams now having played 51 games, there is no margin for error.
Whilst the Storm visit Belfast Giants, who are on the cusp of clinching the Elite League title, Dundee welcome the league’s only Welsh outfit and need to claim what would be only their second victory of the campaign against the Devils.
Cardiff look set to be confined to finishing fourth in the standings but have plenty unfinished business with Dundee and arrived on Tayside with following a rest day, as they beat Glasgow Clan 6-1 on Friday night in the Welsh capital.
Meanwhile, the Stars were in Sheffield last night and despite it being a close game for 45 minutes, the scoreline did not reflect the true story of the match as the home team ran out 5-1 winners.
Aaron Fox’s men benefitted from an early missed call as Brandon Whistle’s hand pass was not called by the officials and Mikko Juusola would give the Steelers the lead on eight minutes.
Dundee then shutdown the reigning treble champions for the next 40 minutes and would find a leveller in the second period as Ben O’Connor hit a hard but accurate slapshot into the top corner of Matt Greenfield’s net in the 25th minute.
In the third period, both teams pushed hard for the go-ahead-goal but Sheffield could not afford to lose as they would almost be eliminated from the title race and they were then helped back into the lead by a slice of luck.
As the English side came forward in the 46th minute, Dundee’s Spencer Naas attempted to cut out a pass from Daniel Leavens in front of his own net but the puck bounced off of his stick and looped over Jarrett Fiske, before dropping into the Dundee net.
The Steelers then ramped up the pressure even more and found three more goals inside the final four minutes of the match as Marc-Olivier Vallerand added the third goal, before Juusola and Leavens both bagged their braces.
Tonight’s opponent and the Stars met just two weeks ago in South Wales as Pete Russell’s side would claim a 7-3 victory and netted four of their goals in the final period.
It was a similar tale to last night, as the Stars had pushed them through the opening 40 minutes but the opposition piled in on the scoring in the final minutes of the match.
Speaking after last night’s road loss in Sheffield, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “For the first 56 minutes, I thought we played a good road game.
“We fought hard, we pushed them and they had a couple of lucky bounces on the first and second goals but from there we self-destructed in the last four minutes.
“We do not like to see that but we have to regroup quickly for a big game tomorrow at home against Cardiff but for 56 minutes, we really pushed those guys tonight.”
Then discussing his side’s recent form on home ice ahead of tonight’s match, he added: “We need a better home record.
“We have been road warriors compared to how we have played at home and at the end of the day we need something out of both games or even this weekend to keep us going in the playoff chase.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game against Cardiff is at 5pm.
All images: Derek Black.
