By Kris Smith
The Stars arrive in Northern Ireland off the back of crucial wins against their Scottish rivals after beating Glasgow Clan and then defeating Fife Flyers in back-to-back Tayside Derbies.
Over the last three games, Dundee have scored 18 goals and conceded only nine as Jarrett Fiske backstopped them to two wins and Richard Sabol helped them to one as well, whilst Brendan Harms has led the offence with nine points.
In the last three games, Harms has hit the back of the net five times and assisted on a further four goals to take his season total to 23 points (12g, 11a) but he is not the only player producing over the festive break as Spencer Naas has seven points (2g, 5a) from the previous three matches, Jake Elmer has six points (2g, 4a), Zach Tsekos recorded five points (1g, 4a) and as did captain, Drydn Dow (1g, 4a).
Marc LeFebvre’s men now head into the SSE Arena on form but have yet to win on three previous visits to Belfast and an upset tonight against the current second-placed team in the Elite League would see the Taysiders move up to seventh if Glasgow Clan fail to beat Fife Flyers.
The last meeting between Adam Keefe’s side and the Stars was earlier in December when the Giants ran out as 7-1 winners thanks to an explosive start from the home team.
Former Star, Elijiah Barriga would open the scoring just 93 seconds in before Gabe Bast doubled up for Belfast on six minutes and that was followed by a third on the powerplay from Mark Cooper less than two minutes later.
Pierre-Olivier Morin then added the Giants fourth and their second powerplay goal of the night inside nine minutes, prompting a goalie change for Dundee as Sabol came out and Fiske went in.
Elmer would get the Stars on the scoreboard in the 12th minute before J.J. Piccinich restored the four-goal lead with a shorthanded effort on 14 minutes but after a goalless second period, Cameron Pound fired home Belfast’s sixth at 47 minutes and Ben Lake completed the scoring to make it 7-1 inside 57 minutes.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s road game in Belfast, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We need to get something out of these two games with Belfast to end the first half of our schedule then we need a much better second half to get into the playoffs.
“We cannot go through any dips or losing spells, we have to get on a good streak and we have won three in a row now but we need to carry that on and have a big second half.
“I think we can be a dangerous team if we just keep things simple, sometimes we overthink things and do not keep it simple and try to make these razzle dazzle plays, then we get ourselves into some trouble.
“If we play with some urgency like we did against Fife in the third period then we will be a tough team to beat but we need that on a consistent basis night in and night out, and that starts tonight in Belfast.”
Face-off for tonight’s game in Belfast is at 7pm.
All images: William Cherry/Presseye.
