By Kris Smith
The Stars are currently five points ahead of the Storm and occupy the eighth and final playoff berth in the Elite League table but Manchester have still have two games in hand over Dundee, putting maximum pressure on tonight’s match.
Marc LeFebvre’s men were able to fend off the Storm in their last encounter, which was just two and a half weeks ago, as the Tayside team skated away with a 4-3 victory from the Storm Shelter.
Manchester had been 2-0 in front after 20 minutes as Zach Sullivan’s first period brace quickly opened up a lead for Mike Morin’s side but Keanu Yamamoto would be the first Star to find the back of the net, with the second period’s only goal.
In the third period, captain Drydn Dow brought Dundee level before a shorthanded goal from Cameron Critchlow restored the home team’s lead but Domenic Alberga would equalise for the Stars, just 10 minutes from full-time.
Then just over 60 seconds later, Philippe Sanche scored what proved to be the winner and sealed the Stars first victory over the Storm this season.
Manchester were victorious in their first three encounters, winning twice in Dundee and once on home ice but they return to Tayside this Sunday as the two teams meet for the final time in the regular season.
However, Dundee were held to two defeats at the weekend as they went down 4-0 to the Panthers in Nottingham on Saturday before suffering a heavy 10-4 defeat at home to Sheffield Steelers on Sunday.
Spencer Naas, Brendan Harms, Yamamoto and Zach Tsekos were all on the scoresheet as a close game soon became a runaway for the Yorkshire club as they buried Dundee beneath an avalanche of goals.
Meanwhile, the Storm won both of their matches last weekend as they defeated Belfast Giants 4-3 at home last Friday before then winning 5-4 after a penalty shootout away to Guilford Flames on Sunday.
Discussing tonight’s trip to Manchester, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “It is going to be 0-0 again and a fresh start, we lost on Sunday and it was an unacceptable scoreline but this is a playoff game with a game seven mentality.
“We know we need points in the standings and we need to regroup here quickly.”
Speaking on how his side can come out with victory tonight, he continued: “We need to grind it out for 60 minutes and play simple hockey and you see what can happen when we do not play simple hockey, just look at the Sheffield game where every mistake is in the back of our net.
“We just have to dig ourselves out of this and be ready to go from the first puck drop.”
Face-off for tonight’s road game in Manchester is at 7:30pm.
All images: Storm Images.
