By Kris Smith
The Stars have been short benched for a number of weeks and have battled hard recently as they tried to produce some results but they are beginning to see some players return to the line-up, which Marc LeFebvre hoping this can help his side begin to turn their form around.
Dundee have slipped down to eighth in the Elite League table but a win tonight would lift them back above Scottish rivals Glasgow Clan, who handed the Taysiders a 4-3 loss in Braehead on Saturday night.
The Stars were also defeated 4-3 by Sheffield Steelers on Sunday as they went 1-0 ahead before making a late comeback attempt from 4-1 behind.
Drydn Dow, Brett Gravelle and Brendan Harms netted the goals in Glasgow, while Domenic Alberga, Alex Robert and Harms again were on target against Sheffield.
Meanwhile, the Giants extended their streak of victories to three matches with a 4-3 overtime win in Cardiff as they downed the Devils 4-3 and went on to defeat Coventry Blaze 6-1 in the West Midlands on Sunday.
The last meeting between Dundee and Belfast was just two weeks ago as Adam Keefe’s men ran out 5-2 winners at the Dundee Ice Arena and that kept the Northern Irish club unbeaten against the Stars so far this season across five contests.
In the 5-2 loss, Cole MacDonald and Harms had both drawn Dundee level in the first half of the match but the Giants kept finding a way to take the lead as Jeff Baum, J.J. Piccinich, Elijiah Barriga (2) and Bobo Carpenter all found the back of the net.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s trip to Belfast, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We are going into this game confident and while the results over the last few weeks have not been great, we are a team who knows that we can play with the big boys.
“For us to do what we want to do this year and accomplish our goals then we know we have to go into places like Belfast and find ways to win there.
“Right now, we are competing hard but just not getting the results we want, so we just have to keep working and competing because we will turn these results around and why not start tonight in Belfast.”
He continued: “They are a good, veteran team and they have a lot of guys back from their championship winning team two years ago and also some guys from last year as well.
“It is a good challenge for us as always and you never know what is going to happen in that building, obviously the ice is not the best in that rink but it is the same for both teams.
“We know what we are up against, it will be a good competitive match and we are looking forward to it.”
Face-off for tonight’s road game in Belfast is at 7pm.
All images: William Cherry/Presseye.
