Stars need steel as Elite League play-off push continues in Sheffield

Dundee Stars face a difficult trip to top-of-the-league Sheffield Steelers tonight, as they aim to nick valuable points for their play-off push.

The Stars are yet to beat the Steelers this season but they did manage to win their first ever road game in Sheffield last season and Omar Pacha will be looking for a similar heroic performance from his side.

The Tayside club are currently ranked ninth in the 10-team league and sit three points outside of the eight post-season places.

Dundee have lost all three previous meetings with the Steelers this season but in their first encounter they pushed the league title frontrunners all the way to overtime.

Sheffield had led 2-1, 4-1 and 5-4 at the Dundee Ice Arena but the Stars battled back to tie the score at 5-5 and send the game into overtime before the visitors nicked the second point halfway through the extra period.

In their last meeting, Omar Pacha’s men visited the Fly DSA Arena and fell to a 4-2 defeat but again tested the resilience of the Sheffield defence as they came back from 3-0 down to make it a one-goal game.

Last season saw the Stars win their first ever game in Sheffield when they came away with a 6-3 result in January and it was also Pacha’s first win in Yorkshire as a coach.

The Tayside team come into the weekend off the back of a bounce-back victory over Guildford Flames, as they beat the Surrey side 4-3 on home ice last Sunday.

Matt Marquardt, Egils Kalns and Brett Stovin all found the net for the Stars, but they will still be at least one player down this weekend as forward Alex Schoenborn remains out through injury.

There is also still a doubt if defender Kris Inglis will make a return to the line-up for tonight and Pacha has confirmed that the decision will be made just before the game.

Meanwhile, tonight’s game gets Aaron Fox’s Steelers back into domestic action after having a week off due to the international break and he will be hoping his side can snap a two-game losing streak when Dundee come to town.

The Steelmen lost their last match to Guildford Flames, as they slipped to a narrow defeat in a back and forth goalfest that finished 6-5 to the hosts.

Marek Troncinsky, Nikolai Lemtyugov, John Armstrong, Marcolivier Vallerand and Michael Davies provided the goals for Sheffield but they were without Anthony Deluca, Josef Hrabal and the injured Kieran Brown and Robert Dowd.

Also, defenceman Ben O’connor will be unavailable for the Steelers as he serves the first of his two-match ban for cross-checking in Guildford.

Reflecting on what he saw from his side last weekend, Pacha said: “Obviously on Saturday it was disappointing to lose against Fife but I really liked the rebound we had against Guildford to get two points and to capitalise on our chances when we had them.

“I had mixed reactions but I liked the way we finished the weekend.”

Looking ahead to his side’s only fixture of the week, the Canadian added: “It is a huge game and each one is massive.

“But with it being a one-game weekend, we really want to target this game to not only move up the standings but surprise people and I think Sheffield is always a fun place to play.”

Meanwhile, Dundee forward Anthony Beauregard feels that the team is ready to go and give Sheffield a game and can possibly win that pair of vital points.

He said: “We have had a good week of practice and we have been working hard.”

Today’s match in Sheffield will face-off at 7pm.

Anthony Beauregard says Stars have been working hard.