Stars in Wales aiming to complete hat-trick

Dundee Stars face Cardiff Devils tonight in Wales, where they aim to build on a pair of wins at the weekend as they step up their hunt to secure an Elite Ice Hockey League play-off spot.

Stars are looking to tighten their grip on sixth place with a third successive win if they can beat Devils.

It is a tie between all three Scottish teams on 49 points, but Dundee hold the advantage with their 15 regulation wins compared to Fife Flyers’ 13 and Glasgow Clan’s 10.

A win tonight would give the Stars some extra breathing room and possibly a guaranteed advantage over their rivals if Flyers fail to beat Sheffield Steelers tonight in regulation, as they take on the newly-crowned league champions in Kirkcaldy.

Dundee were 5-1 weekend winners over the Clan in Glasgow, with Carter Johnson, Spencer Naas (2), Drydn Dow and Brent Beaudoin all on the scoresheet, before they also defeated Manchester Storm 4-1 on home ice, where Ryan Valentini, Johnson, Anthony Rinaldi and Elijah Vilio all found the net.

The Devils split their weekend with a 4-0 loss in Sheffield before bouncing back to defeat Belfast Giants 4-3 in overtime, securing their spot as the No 2 seeds for the play-offs.

Ahead of the Cardiff clash, Stars head coach Marc LeFebvre said: “We will approach it like any other game. We know the importance of it, but they are one of those teams we could end up facing in the first round, so not only do we want to beat those guys, we want to send a message at the same time.

“First and foremost, though, we just want to take care of business and secure our spot in the play-offs.

“We just need to keep taking it shift by shift, playing hard on each shift and we need to stay disciplined the whole time both within our structure and the way we play.”