By Kris Smith
The Stars are aiming to climb back up into the playoff spots and currently sit one point outside of the top eight spots, with Fife Flyers occupying the final playoff berth.
However, the Stars Tayside rivals have played one more game and were victorious over Dundee on Wednesday night as they progressed to the Challenge Cip Semi-Finals with a 9-8 aggregate victory.
After a Dundee fought back to claim a 4-4 draw in the first leg, the Flyers would do the same in Kirkcaldy and a shootout was required to decide a winner, as Fife sealed their first trip to the final four in sudden death.
The Stars now make their second trip of the season to Cardiff tonight and after a tightly contested battle on their first visit to Ice Arena Wales, that end in a 6-4 defeat, they are aiming to claim their second win of the year against Brodie DuPont’s side.
Cardiff were beaten 5-3 in their only game in Dundee this campaign and sit fourth in the Elite League standings.
Dundee forwards, Elijiah Barriga and Ben Sokay have both scored three goals each against the Welsh side, whilst Joshua Waller has also struck three times against the Stars for the Devils.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Stars Head Coach, Jeff Mason said: “That is the Challenge Cup done and dusted for us, so our focus has to shift back onto league play and we need to put points on the board.
“We have a tough run into Christmas and there are no easy games, so we need to make sure we find a way to capitalise on good performances and get rewarded with points.
“We can take positives from Wednesday night, which was a game I thought we played well and maybe deserved more than what we got.
“We have played Cardiff twice now and we have played them well both times taking one win and one loss, but we have done a number of really good things against them.
“I liked our performance in their building last time but we just need to tighten things up defensively and not give them any opportunities off the rush.
“If we can do the right things, then they are a team we know we can play well against and have had success against, so it is about replicating those things and after a long trip down, trying to get off to a good start, which is imperative.”
Face-off time for tonight’s game in Cardiff is at 7pm.
Alli images: James Assinder.
