By Kris Smith
After making changes last weekend, the two new Stars players arrived in Dundee this week and will be in the line-up for the pair of games against the Panthers.
Forwards, Alex Schoenborn and Matt Carter were brought into the squad adding both size and experience from top leagues, but their arrival also brought an end to Justin Maylan’s and Elgin Pearce’s time as Stars.
However, Dundee are still going to be without defensemen Kris Inglis and Shawn Boutin as the pair remain out of action with upper body injuries.
Nottingham sit fifth in the league table on 26 points, while Stars are on 15 and are five points adrift of the rest of the Elite League after 25 games.
The Stars put on a better performance last weekend and finally found some scoring from their forwards but their efforts were not enough as in the last game, Coventry Blaze punished all their defensive errors.
Tim Wallace’s Panthers were beaten 5-3 on Wednesday in the second leg of their Challenge Cup Quarter-Finals but their advantage from their home leg carried them through to the final four.
Dylan Malmquist, Mark Matheson and John Rheault netted the Nottinghamshire’s club three goals on Wednesday.
The two previous games between Dundee and Nottingham both ended in a win for the English side.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Stars head coach, Omar Pacha said: “It will be the first weekend with the sort of new team and we have to be realistic.
“There aren’t much expectations, we just want to see how the team is looking with the new guys now in.
“Alex and Matt might not be in the right game shape for this point in the season and system-wise, they won’t be locked in but at the same time we still have to create some urgency.
“Although, it is a mixture of both, you want to be patient and do things right but also make sure that there is a sense of urgency in the locker room to get results.”
With the Dundee’s latest signing facing his previous employers on his debut, Pacha expects it to be a nice occasion for Carter.
He added: “Matt is playing his first game against his old club, so that is great for him to get that and it will be good to get the guys into the team and play the first game on the road where there is not as much pressure to get a result as there is at home.”
Stars forward, Egils Kalns is hoping that the team can start to finish off the great scoring chances they create and insists that the goals don’t have to be pretty ones.
He said: “We have to start scoring more goals and we are creating those great opportunities but we just can’t find a way to finish them, so I think that will be the important thing this weekend.
“We have to go to the net, be strong defensively and we have two new guys here now and hopefully that will help us bring a good energy.
“Then hopefully, we will find a way to score those goals and win a game but it doesn’t have to be pretty.”
Face-off time for Saturday’s game in Nottingham is at 7pm.
Buy your tickets for tomorrow nights return fixture at DIA HERE!
