By Kris Smith
The Stars are hoping to move back ahead of Glasgow Clan, if they can secure two points tonight to reclaim seventh place in the league table after last night’s 4-3 loss to the Clan caused the two teams to swap places in the standings.
Yesterday, the Taysiders would welcome Jake Elmer and Kyle Pouncy back into their line-up on Saturday night as the duo returned from injury and the Taysiders got off to a quick start as Dundee captain, Drydn Dow opened the scoring on three minutes.
Glasgow then soon began to find their footing and would equalise at 11 minutes played as Cole Ully lifted the puck past Richard Sabol and then six minutes later, Ully would fire past Sabol for a second time to put the Clan in front.
The home team held their lead until the second period but had the chance to extend it quickly after the restart as Elmer was punished for a slashing foul but Dundee killed off the minor penalty and then went on to tie the score.
In the 31st minute, Brett Gravelle would be in the perfect position to shoot home the rebound from Philippe Sanche’s saved effort as Clan keeper, Landon Bow made the first stop but could not recover in time to deny Gravelle.
Dundee then regained the lead inside 38 minutes as Brendan Harms scored on the Stars only powerplay of the night with former Dundee defenseman, Chris McKay in the sin bin for interference.
Elmer would shoot the puck towards goal where Harms was positioned in front of the Glasgow netminder and he redirected the shot between the legs of Bow to put Marc LeFebvre’s men 3-2 ahead.
In the third period, the Stars would go very close to increasing their lead as they had two big chances to add a fourth but failed to find the back of the net as Glasgow managed to scrape the puck away.
The Braehead club then found a leveller on 50 minutes as Felix Pare tipped Deven Sideroff’s shot past Sabol and with five minutes left on the clock, Tyson McLellan would be free at the back post to turn home what proved to be the winner.
Meanwhile the Steelers faced Coventry Blaze in Sheffield and would run out as 5-2 winners as a brace from Mitchell Balmas in the first period and Daniel Ciampini moved them 3-0 ahead before the Blaze pulled two goals back in 43 seconds.
Brandon Whistle and would restore the two-goal lead just nine seconds after the restart and then Joona Huttula sealed the victory with a fifth goal in the 58th minute, to get goaltender, Matthew Greenfield off to a winning start on his return from injury.
Tonight’s visit from the Steelers will be their second to the DIA this campaign and Aaron Fox’s outfit were 6-2 winners but lost their last encounter with the Stars 4-2, down in Yorkshire just two weeks ago.
Philippe Sanche, Domenic Alberga, Cole MacDonald and Keanu Yamamoto were all on target for Dundee, while Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Maxim Golod put Sheffield on the board.
Speaking after last night’s defeat in Glasgow, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “Going into tomorrow we have to bring the effort like we do every night but right now we are just not getting the results and that is frustrating for the guys.
“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves, the effort is there so it is just a matter of turning these games on their head and we need to find a way to get some bodies back in the line-up and I am still trying to get another guy in here and create some more internal competition.
“At the end of the day, we cannot feel sorry for ourselves, we just have to keep going after it and keep battling because tomorrow is a new day.”
Face-off for tonight’s home game against Sheffield is at 5pm.
