By Kris Smith
The Stars are looking to build on Friday’s 7-4 win over Nottingham Panthers and push themselves up into seventh spot, overtaking Scottish rivals, Fife Flyers and Glasgow Clan.
Before tonight’s game, Dundee have two games in hand on Fife and one on Glasgow, sit ting behind both sides by just one point but they also still have to play each of those teams twice.
The fifth-placed Flames arrive on Tayside with a win and a loss under their belt at the DIA already this season but they have yet to beat the Stars in regulation, as they have won eight from a possible 10 points against Guildford.
The last meeting saw the Stars go down 4-3 after a shootout in Surrey but a week before, Paul Dixon’s men had taken 5-4 overtime win in Dundee.
However, Guildford have not won any of their last five matches and were beaten 3-1 in back-to-back games against Belfast Giants last weekend, whilst the Stars snapped their four-match losing skid with the 7-4 victory over Nottingham.
Dundee had seven different scorers on Friday night as Brent Beaudoin and Jake Elmer netted in the first period, Anthony Rinaldi in the second and their comeback from 4-3 down came through third period strikes from Josh Brittain, Ryan Valentini, James Phelan and Drydn Dow.
The Stars were down three players through injury on Friday as Craig Garrigan, Tommy Parrottino and Kevin Carr were all missing from action, but they will have defenseman, Chris McKay back in the line-up after he served his one-match ban.
Discussing tonight’s game and the pressure of it, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “It is just like any other and we expect to win, and we have to carry over that playoff and winning mentality.
“We will take it one game at a time and one shift at a time, because we have had some good battles with Guildford all season and I expect no different tonight.”
With only eight games left in the regular season, LeFebvre continued: “Every point is key, whether it is a two-point game or a one-point game, all that matters is we pick up points and we have to maximise our next games and give it our best shot.
“We believe in everybody in that room and we believe once we hopefully clinch a top eight spot, that we can beat anybody and win a championship, but we have to get there first and that starts tonight.”
With the Stars outscoring the Flames 20-18 across five games and only two matches being won in regulation time this season, LeFebvre expects another closely fought battle.
He said: “It has just been a series of good battles with them and every game has nearly gone to overtime or a shootout, also teams have been able to pull their goalie late and we tied it late last time we played them here.
“Every game has been tight and a one-goal game against those guys this season, so we expect no different tonight as they have not clinched their spot either yet and they will be looking for the two points.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game is at 7:30pm and you can buy your tickets HERE!
All images: Derek Black.
