The Kitmart Dundee Stars face Glasgow Clan tonight at the Dundee Ice Arena in an important match that also marks the start of the Elite League first ever Pride Weekend.

By Kris Smith

This weekend will be massive for the Tayside club as they can potentially catch up to seventh place in the standings.

The Stars currently sit on 29 points after 37 games and are just two behind Sunday’s opponent Manchester, who have 30 points from 35 games.

A perfect four-point weekend, would see Dundee reel in Glasgow as well, as the Clan currently sit four points above in seventh place.

Against Zack Fitzgerald’s Clan, the Stars have a 3-3 record and they are unbeaten at home against the Braehead side this season.

Omar Pacha’s men come into the weekend off the back of last Sunday’s huge 5-2 win over Cardiff Devils and with five different scorers, there is goals right through their line-up.

Glasgow’s last outing saw them slip to a 5-2 loss at home to Belfast Giants and their pair of goals came from Marcus Jonsson and Matt Beca.

The Clan have lost three games straight, but they have also been without a number of players. In their last match they were missing goalkeepers Patrick Killeen and Gary Russell, defenders Liam Stenton and Craig Moore and forwards, Mathieu Roy, Jack Musil and Scott Henderson.

Looking ahead to tonight’s crucial match, Stars Head Coach, Pacha said: “Obviously it is a huge weekend.

“But to say it’s season defining games is still a bit early but we have to consider that and have that mindset within the locker room to focus on how big these games are.

“If Glasgow have Killeen back then they will have some solid goaltending and they have some guys up front who can hurt us, so we have to be at our best and defensively we have to make sure we are as good as we were last Sunday.”

“We have to stay disciplined, play within our structure and have another good start and then we go from there for Sunday’s game.

“If we get the job done then that is a huge momentum boost for us going into Manchester.”

The Stars boss also gave an injury update for his side, he said: “O’Connor will skate today (Thursday) but may still possibly be out for the weekend and Inglis will still be out.”

Dundee blue-liner, Shawn Boutin also knows how crucial tonight’s match can be and what a win for the Stars would do to the standings.

He said: “It’s huge, those games this weekend are the two most important games of the season.

“We are four points behind Glasgow, so winning that game brings us up to two points behind them, so it is a huge game for us.

“We have played well against Glasgow this season and we have been playing well recently, so we are confident.

“We know that they are struggling right know but we are also aware that they will ready and really, really hungry for that match-up tonight.”

The Canadian believes that they don’t have to make any change if they want to get the victory tonight.

Boutin added: “Honestly, we just have to keep playing the way we have been in the last 10 or so games.

“We have been playing smart defensively and with a fast pace, so if we don’t change that then I think we will have success.”

Face-off for tonight’s game at the DIA is at 7:30pm and you can buy your tickets HERE.

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Trade-Mart Dundee Stars Team
46 Games
19 Wins
21 Losses
6 OT Losses
44 Points