By Kris Smith
The Stars play a pair of English opponents in back-to-back games this weekend as they aim to cause some upsets and close in the teams above them in the Elite League standings.
Nottingham sit in third place in the league standings on 55 points, whilst Dundee hold steady in eighth with 38 points, five clear of Manchester Storm below and three behind Glasgow Clan above.
Last weekend, the Taysiders fell at home to Guildford Flames in a 6-2 defeat, with captain, Drydn Dow and Kameron Kielly their only scorers before Marc LeFebvre’s men responded with a crucial 4-2 victory in Coventry against the Blaze last Sunday.
Alex Robert, Zach Tsekos (2) and Ben O’Connor, all found the back of the net, with O’Connor assisting Robert’s goal to make him the all-time leader for assists by a defenseman in the Elite League.
Meanwhile, the Panthers made it two wins in a row as they defeated Belfast Giants 2-0 at home on Wednesday night, where Zsombor Garat and Otto Nieminen provided the goals.
This is the final league meeting between the two teams and so far, Danny Stewart’s side have three wins to Dundee’s two, with the Panthers winning the last three matches, but the Stars have beaten the English club both home and away this season.
Discussing the weekend ahead, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We know where Nottingham are at and we know where we are at.
“They are fighting for a league title still and trying to track down Belfast, and also they are coming off an emotional against Belfast on Wednesday night.
“So, there could be an emotional let down from them but I am sure Danny will have them ready, they are a good team and you can see how much they have come on since the start of the season, to where they are now.
“They are vastly improved, they made some good in-season pickups in players like Mitchell Fossier, who has been one of the better forwards in the league and also Jason Grande in net, but also Garat on defence.
“They have some heavy firepower in their top six forwards and we need to be on them and take away their scoring opportunities.
“For us, we just need to find a way to gut out a victory like we did earlier on in the season and the last time we were down there, we ran them close in a tight 2-2 game but they got one by us late in the third period, so it was close and we have had some good battles with them all season and we are looking forward to the challenge as always.”
Face-off for tonight’s game in Nottingham is at 7pm.
All images: Panthers Images.
