By Kris Smith
The Stars have won four of their last five matches and made a great start to their league campaign after a rocky run in the Challenge Cup.
Last weekend, LeFebvre’s men did the double over their two biggest rivals as they beat Fife Flyers 6-4 in league play over in Kirkcaldy on Friday night, before hammering Glasgow Clan 6-2 at home on Sunday in their final cup group stage fixture.
Their recent hot form has put them up to sixth in the Elite League table with nine points from a possible 18, but they remain only five points off the summit, where Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils sit tied at the top.
Sharing his thoughts after Sunday’s big win, LeFebvre said: “Sunday was just an overall team performance.
“I thought we were in a bit of quicksand in the first eight or nine minutes but then we just kept going, we got a goal in the first few minutes and then weathered the storm a little bit.
“We were back on our heels in the first period, for the most part and in the second period we just came out buzzing.
“Our pre-scout showed that they do not want to play a lot of defence, so we just had to get pucks below the hash-marks and pucks towards the net on these guys.
“We definitely took advantage and was nice to see some other guys scoring tonight, so it is a good feeling right now.”
After averaging less than two goals a game through their first five league matches, the Stars have now scored 25 goals in their last five outings and the Canadian coach explained: “I think the chemistry with guys is improving and adding a new guy to the line-up has lit a fire under some guys.
“That is what we needed so it is not something I am doing really, the guys are just buying in and a few weeks ago after the Nottingham game, I had to have some heart-to-heart chats with some guys and look at what I was doing and mix some things up and things are just going right now.”
Dundee won just one of their six Challenge Cup Group Stage matches in a rough beginning to the season but LeFebvre is happy with where his team are at in their league campaign.
He added: “Obviously the start we had in the cup was not the start we wanted but things are moving along now and we have to keep this up, keep getting something out of every weekend and our focus is really on the league.
“We do not know what will happen with the cup and if they are having some kind of re-jigged format but the last few weeks have really turned a tide and opened my eyes to what some guys can do.
“Some players are more confident now and understanding the league a lot more now than they did from day one, but I feel like that is happening across all the teams in the league.”
This weekend the Stars will face last season’s league runners-up, Guildford Flames who had also struggled early into their campaign and spent time at the bottom of the league table but they have had a resurgence and won four matches on the bounce.
LeFebvre commented: “They are a good team; they have made some changes like we have in the past few weeks as well and you can see their run of form is going right now.
“They are going to be a confident team but we are a confident team ourselves, so we cannot lose sight of that and we just have to get something out of the weekend.”
Discussing the key to keeping the good form up, he continued: “It is all about confidence right now, we are five points behind first place and that shows how much parity there is and at the same time we are only three ahead of Coventry in last place.
“So, they are right there too and even though they are 10th, they do not look like a 10th place team and we found that out last week.
“There is so much parity in the league right now, you cannot take nights off and you need to take points every weekend.”
The Stars will face-off against the Flames this Saturday in Dundee at 7pm before travelling south to Guildford on Sunday for a 6pm start.
All images: Derek Black & Struan Davie.
