By Kris Smith
The Stars have drawn level with Glasgow Clan on 26 points following yesterday’s 6-2 home win over the Braehead club but they will have four games in hand after Dundee play Coventry this evening.
The Blaze have a winning record against Dundee this season after claiming victory in the last two of their three meetings, but the first two required overtime and a penalty shootout to separate the two teams.
Kevin Moore’s side’s only regulation win over the Stars came on their last visit to the SkyDome Arena as the Blaze skated to a 7-1 home win, despite it being a 1-1 game at the end of the first as Cole MacDonald’s strike drew Dundee level.
The English outfit are currently fifth in the league table and sit 11 points ahead of Dundee, after they picked up one point in their shootout loss to Belfast Giants yesterday.
The Blaze had taken the lead on 21 minutes through Chase Gresock’s powerplay marker and then fell 2-1 behind before Terrance Amorosa also scored on the man advantage inside 45 minutes, to tie the score again.
Coventry would fail to score on all four of their penalty shots, as the Giants scored twice on Mat Robson to claim the extra point and move five points clear at the summit of the league table.
Meanwhile, last night the Clan had taken a 1-0 lead through Felix Pare after four minutes and kept the Stars out throughout the opening 20 minutes, as the home side’s powerplay unit faltered.
Glasgow then doubled their lead on 27 minutes as Deven Sideroff converted on a breakaway, firing straight past Richard Sabol and into the roof of the net.
The visitors then let their discipline slip and that proved costly as Zach Tsekos pulled one b back for Dundee with a five-on-three powerplay goal, in the 31st minute.
Tsekos would then find a way past Lucas Brine again in the final minute of the second period to make it an even game, but just 13 seconds later, Philippe Sanche fired the Stars in front as Keanu Yamamoto’s pass took Brine out of the equation and left Sanche with an empty net to score into.
In the third period, the Clan continued to take penalties and that meant Spencer Naas would bag a brace of powerplay goals, with his first coming on another five-on-three advantage inside 43 minutes and his second on 47 minutes.
Yamamoto then added Dundee’s sixth goal to seal the victory as he beat Brine down low and at his near post in the 53rd minute, securing two vital points for the Taysiders.
Speaking after last night’s win over Glasgow, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We have to be ready for Coventry, we got a big two points tonight and we are looking for four tomorrow.
“We know what to expect from them, they are the hardest working team in the league and they play a very disciplined style of game, which we have to be ready for.
“We need a better start, we know we can play with these guys, we beat them earlier in the season and took them to overtime and a shootout.
“We know it will be a dog fight with them tomorrow and they do not give you much ice to work with, so we will have to find ways in behind them and go to work.”
Face-off for tonight’s road game against Coventry Blaze is at 5:30pm.
All images: Scott Wiggins.