By Luke McGinnis
Scott Dutertre’s side are coming off a 5-1 midweek loss to the Coventry Blaze on the road. Sebastian Bengtsson scored the lone Stars goal, while Vladislav Pestov made 48 saves.
“When you get off the bus and are shaking off the road legs, your first period is usually a battle, but I thought our first period was our best,” reflected Dutertre. “We had a decent push, kept the puck in and we scored, but after that and as the game went on we started surviving. We had too many turnovers, and it was like we were allergic to their blueline; we just weren’t getting pucks in.”
Manchester and Dundee last met just over a month ago at the Dundee Ice Arena, with the Storm skating away with a 4-3 overtime victory. Travis Ewanyk scored twice for the Stars, while Sebastian Bengtsson also found the back of the net.
The Storm saw goals in regulation from Kyle Maksimovich, Brandon Cutler and former Stars’ captain Drydn Dow, before Tim McGauley scored with just four seconds remaining in overtime.
Since then, Cam Critchlow’s side have struggled, winning just two of their last five regular season matchups for an overall record of 5-4-2.
Brandon Cutler and Kyle Maksimovich lead the Storm in scoring with ten points, Drydn Dow leads all Manchester blueliners with six points, and Drew DeRidder has been sharp posting a 2.39 goals-against average and a .929 save-percentage.
“We need to have a clean game with a little bit of physicality,” said Dutertre. “Manchester is a big, aggressive team and they’re probably going to come in here with some physicality so we have to make sure we match that. When we deviate from what we’re supposed to do it’s a long night, and when we do what we’re supposed to do we have success.”
Faceoff is scheduled for 5pm at the Dundee Ice Arena.
