By Kris Smith
Dundee Stars 3 Manchester Storm 1
Last Saturday’s crucial win over Manchester means that the two teams have split the season series at three wins a piece and neither team lost on home ice.
The overall series score finished 16-13 in favour of the Storm, however the Stars outshot Manchester 220-216.
Therefore, netminder, Alex Leclerc had a save percentage of 93 per cent against Ryan Finnerty’s men and Manchester goaltender, Matt Ginn recorded two shutouts and stopped 94 per cent of shots he faced from Dundee.
The Tayside team had seven different goal scorers against the Altrincham this season, while the Storm had 11 different scorers and both side’s top scorers netted four each, as Kevin Dufour and Tyson Fawcett led their teams in scoring for this mini series.
Cardiff Devils 6 Dundee Stars 2
On Sunday, the Stars lost on the road for third time this season in Cardiff they have recorded one victory at home against the reigning playoff champions so far this season.
The overall score for the games played at the Viola Arena between Dundee and the Devils this season finished 19-10 in favour of the home side and seven Stars players have scored against the Devils.
Of those seven players Elgin Pearce, Drydn Dow and Kevin Dufour have contributed a pair each against the Welsh club on the road and the two teams will meet again next weekend on March 15th at Dundee Ice Arena. You can buy your tickets HERE!
Season Milestones
A few of the Stars roster hit some landmark moments in their season last week and the most noteworthy was Alex Leclerc, who made his 170th save of the season in Cardiff.
Meanwhile. Egils Kalns’ spectacular goal that won the Elite League Play of the Week for Week 26 was also his 25th point in the league campaign,
Whereas, Dufour’s empty netter against Manchester gave him his 25th goal in the league and Dow’s assist on his first goal of that evening put the defender on 40 points in 46 league matches.
Fellow blueliner, Dirk also hit a milestone for assists, as he reached 30 in all competitions after his involvement in Dundee’s first goal in Cardiff.
Beauregard also hit 30 assists in all competitions and has now tied Dufour for the most points so far this season as they both have 55 in 54 appearances.
Point Streaks
There are only two players heading into Week 27 on point-streaks as both Beauregard and Dirk picked up points in last weekend’s matches.
The Stars center had five points over the two games, scoring twice, while blue liner Dirk assisted on a goal in each match.
Week 27
This week sees the Stars head into another massively important playoff battle before facing another tough road trip.
First off is a MASSIVE Scottish Derby versus the Glasgow Clan. You can buy your tickets HERE!
Glasgow Clan
This Saturday the Stars welcome the Glasgow Clan to the DIA for the final time this season and so far they have made it through this campaign unbeaten against the Braehead side at home.
Omar Pacha’s men have a 3-1-0 record at home and have outscored Zack Fitzgerald’s men 17-8 in the City of Discovery.
In the four home ties with Glasgow, two players are tied for the most goals, both Beauregard and Pearce have scored three times.
In all meetings with the Clan this season, special teams have proven their importance and at the DIA, the Stars have a powerplay success rate of 18% (4~22) against Glasgow and they have also killed off 82% (18~22) of the penalties taken verse the Clan.
Coventry Blaze
Then on Sunday, Pacha takes his players to the Skydome Arena for the final regular season game with the Coventry Blaze.
The title challenging team from the West Midlands have a 4-1 record against Dundee this season and in the five previous fixtures, they have outscored the Stars 22-18.
The top lamp lighters for each side in this fixture are Dufour (5) and Coventry’s Dillon Lawrence (5).
Saturday’s home match will face-off at 7pm and you can buy your tickets HERE. Then Sunday’s road game in Coventry faces-off at 5:30pm. You can watch the LIVE webcast HERE!
Thanks to www.starsstats.co.uk/ which was created by Dave Sweetin (@dave_sweetin) and Elite Prospects for making some of the information used in this article available online.
