By Kris Smith
Last night the Stars were on the wrong end of a 5-3 score line and now they are aiming to get back on track against a Panthers side that is playing their third game in three days.
Connor Sills (2) and Timi Lahtinen provided Dundee’s three goals, whilst Nolan LaPorte, Colton Yellow Horn (2) and Mathieu Roy (2) lit the lamp for the Clan.
Meanwhile, the Panthers were 4-2 winners in Kirkcaldy yesterday, with Matthew Lane, Joshua Tetlow, Kevin Domingue and Mathieu Tousingant all on the scoresheet to lift them past Fife Flyers.
That result also kept Nottingham in winning form, as they had beaten Glasgow 5-2 on Friday evening in Braehead and Christophe Boivin, Tousignant, Jeremy Walsh, Robbie Baillargeon and Matthew Myers all found the net.
The Nottinghamshire outfit have now won five games on the bounce since making a coaching change at the start of January.
Tim Wallace was relieved of his coaching duties on January 5 and veteran players, Mark Matheson and Stephen Lee were handed the reigns in the interim and have made a strong start to their tenure in charge.
Although, the Stars and the Panthers have proven to be evenly matched throughout this season.
In three games so far this year, Pacha’s side have lost twice by a single goal in Nottingham, going down 2-1 on their first visit and 4-3 after overtime on their return.
Yet, a 4-1 victory for Dundee in Scotland gave the Stars the latest edge over their English opponents.
Reflecting on last night’s defeat and how the team move forward into tonight’s match, Stars forward, Lahtinen said: “We just need to look at our mistakes from last night and eliminate them from our game.
“I think we have played a lot of good games against Nottingham this season and I am looking forward to it.
“I think it will be a tight game too, so we just need to stick to our plan.”
Dundee defenseman, Kyle Haas then added: “It has been tough, obviously we have had two wrenches thrown into the works after Christmas with COVID, but we are just looking to bounce back from there.
“We have to be consistent and play to our strengths, yesterday we did not follow what Pacha wanted to key in from the start and we did not play to our strengths.
“We are coming out of this COVID period, so we just need to keep it simple and we cannot play too fancy, like what we tried to do last night, so keeping it simple is all it comes down to.”
Face-off times for tonight’s home match is at 5pm.
The limited 200 tickets for this game have sold out but fans can still watch the game via the Dundee Stars TV live stream, which can be purchased via the club’s website and social media channels.
