By Kris Smith
Omar Pacha will be looking for more of the same tonight when the Glasgow Clan visit the Dundee Ice Arena.
His side came away 6-3 victors in Glasgow last night as the Stars started thier regular season and Challenge Cup campaign off with a very loud bang.
Dundee led 3-0 after the first period after Anthony Beauregard, Drydn Dow and Brett Stovin showed thier leathaliy around the net.
The Clan did have opportunities but Alex Leclerc was solid and back-stopped his team to clean sheet in the first stanza.
However, the Canadian netminder was eventually beaten in the second after he was decived by a redirected shot from Mathieu Roy.
That powerplay goal pulled Zack Fitzgerald’s men back to 3-1 but Kevin Dufour’s quick shot from the left side, went across the body of Patrick Killeen and into the far top corner, restored the two-goal lead.
Craig Peacock made it 4-2 with a quick finish from close range but any momentum gathered by the home side or motivating speeches by Fitzgerald in the second period break were quickly destroyed as Elgin Pearce turned another rebound past Killen, just 64 seconds into the third.
A second powerplay goal for Roy brought the score back to 5-3 with just over three minutes to play but Matt Marquardt quickly answered back for Dundee.
The newly-appointed Stars captain smashed a first time effort into the Clan net 34 seocnds later.
With many positives for Dundee coming out of their first game, such as having six different goalscorers, there were also some improvements to be made as they gave up a number of odd-man rushes, which were all dealt with superbly by Leclerc.
The Clan coach and his squad will be hungry for a win when they come to Tayside tonight after embarrasingly being shown up in their own barn on Saturday and deprived of their first regular season win.
Defenseman, Shawn Boutin assisted on three of Dundee’s goals on Saturday, while Beauregard (1 goal, 1 assist), Cownie (2 assists), Stovin (1 goal, 1 assist) and Pearce (1 goal, 1 assist) all recorded two points each.
Roy was involved in all three of Glasgow’s goals with two goals and an assist, while Travis Ehrhardt assisted on both of Roy’s powerplay goals.
Meanwhile in between the pipes, Leclerc stopped 37 of the 40 shots he faced from the Clan, while Killeen made 30 saves from 36 shots.
Speaking after the macth, head coach Omar Pacha said: “It was a good way to start the Challeneg Cup phase and scoring six goals on the road was a huge positive and we will try to roll it into tomorrow.
“We started off storng and we got them the mometum early and there were a few times we created a goal out of nothing and that was nice to see.
“I still think we allowed too many chances in the first two periods but for the most part we were able to buzz around them and we used our speed really well.
“Now, tomorrow (Sunday) is just as important or even more important.
“The gusy were all impressed during the game and after the game by our fans, so it will be great to see the atmosphere tomorrow.”
Face-off for tonight’s Challenge Cup game is at 5pm! Tickets are still available HERE and from the box office.