By Kris Smith
This is the first game of another back-to-back series for the Stars as they travel to Kirkcaldy on Saturday, December 28th as well. You can buy your tickets HERE for tonight’s game!
This Christmas cracker is the fifth meeting between the two Tayside teams, each side have yet to win at home, as in every game the away side has claimed all the points.
Both Fife and Dundee were involved in a pair of games at the weekend but in their latest matches, each club came out on the wrong side of tight score lines.
Last Sunday, the Flyers were beaten 3-1 in Kirkcaldy by Belfast Giants with their only goal being scored by Danick Gauthier in the third period.
Former Star, Elgin Pearce netted his first as a Giant to open the scoring on Sunday as he settled in with his new team after being released by Dundee, just over a week ago.
Whereas, the Stars lost 3-2 at home to Nottingham Panthers after pushing the English club right until the end before running out of time.
Dundee’s Drydn Dow tied the game at 1-1 early in the second period as he netted his fifth goal in the last eight matches and Anthony Beauregard scored a powerplay goal inside the final four-minutes to give the Stars some hope of completing the comeback.
Sam Herr, Oliver Betteridge and Brett Bulmer struck for the Panthers as they made it a four-point weekend after beating the Stars 6-1 in Nottingham last Saturday.
Also, new signings Alex Schoenborn and Matt Carter impressed in their first two games as Dundee players and Stars Head Coach, Omar Pacha hopes they can continue to show positive progression in their first Tayside derby match.
He said: “The reality is, we need those guys to adjust as quickly as possible with the group here and so they have to have a big game on Thursday but I am pleasantly surprised with what I have seen so far.
“In the next few weeks they are going to play a lot of games, without much practice, so it won’t be easy for them but we need them to keep progressing every game.
“It was a really positive home debut for both and hopefully they can keep getting better.”
Looking ahead to Thursday’s big rivalry match, the Stars boss added: “We have a lot of catching up to do but it has to start on Boxing Day against a big rival with a big crowd, so there is a lot riding on this game.
“It has to be a solid performance at home, a solid team game and we have to find a way to get offence against Fife because they have been alright recently, in the sense where they haven’t been conceding many goals.
“We also have to make sure we keep generating the chances we had against Nottingham last Sunday because we created a lot of chances but we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Pacha was also happy with how his side responded after Saturday’s loss, as they out chanced their opposition during Sunday’s game.
He said: “I think we played a good game but we still have to tighten up defensively and we still have to execute on our five-on-three powerplay, other than that I thought we had more chances than them.
“If you put 40 shots on the Nottingham Panthers you expect something but in the play itself you can’t be too disappointed, right now it is a process of getting our guys to play the right way then hopefully results will come sooner rather than later.”
The Stars will still be without defenseman, Kris Inglis from their line-up but were boosted by the return of Shawn Boutin to their line-up for last weekend’s fixtures, while Fife are will be missing defender, Sam Jones and forward Chase Schaber.
Face-off for tonight’s game is at 5pm. Buy your tickets HERE!
