By Luke McGinnis
The Stars battled hard last weekend but were ultimately unsuccessful in both of their matchups, first falling 3-1 to the Belfast Giants on the road before suffering a 6-1 defeat at home to the Glasgow Clan.
“I thought in the Belfast game we competed all night — obviously we’ve got to bear down at the net front and find a way to put the puck in the back of the net — but we competed hard and just fell a little short,” said head coach Marc LeFebvre.
“Sunday was completely opposite. We had a dream start in the first, and then we just collapsed. It’s more of a mental thing than anything, we just seem to switch off, but we have no margin for error for the rest of the season if we hope to get into the playoffs.”
Cardiff and Dundee faced off just over three weeks ago at the Vindico Arena, where the Devils skated away with a 5-2 victory.
Jonathan McBean and Drydn Dow scored for the Stars, while Kristoff Kontos, Cole Sanford, Gleason Fournier, Brett Ferguson and Josh MacDonald found the back of the net for the Welsh side.
Since then, Cardiff have won four of their last six games and currently sit just three points behind league-leading Belfast in the EIHL standings. Kohen Olischefski enters the weekend on a four-game point streak, and Riley Brandt has recorded eight points in his last four outings for the Devils.
“Cardiff’s always one of the better teams in our league — they’re physical, they play hard and they have guys who can attack defensively,” added LeFebvre. “We’ve beaten them here before, so there’s no reason we can’t compete. I thought we had a pretty decent game in Cardiff a few weeks ago where we just came up short, so we know what to expect.”
The Stars and Panthers last met at the start of December, when Dundee picked up a 3-2 overtime victory at the Dundee Ice Arena.
Ross Armour and Tim Doherty scored for Nottingham, while Spencer Naas and Jackson DeSouza found the net for the Stars in regulation before Otto Nieminen netted the game-winning goal in overtime against his former club.
Danny Stewart’s side are fresh off a Continental Cup victory and currently sit third in the EIHL standings with 47 points, though they are coming off a 4-1 midweek defeat to the Glasgow Clan.
“Obviously we need to get some points and some wins — that’s the biggest thing — so we’re preparing like we always do, but we have to be more engaged from the get-go,” concluded LeFebvre.
Craig Moore, who suffered an upper-body injury a number of weeks ago, and Quinn Ryan, who missed Sunday’s matchup through illness, are expected to be game-time decisions. Matt Boudens, who left the game against Belfast with an upper-body injury, remains week-to-week and will be unavailable for the Stars.
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