Stars looking to pull off upset against Sheffield

Dundee Stars travel to Yorkshire tonight hoping for an upset to overturn the 7-2 defeat in the first leg of the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Dundee were hit hard by Steelers in the third period last Wednesday as they lost four goals.

Dundee opened the scoring through Jordan Cownie on the power play but a five-on-three advantage gave the visitors the opportunity to level and then take the lead through Colton Fretter and Andreas Valdix.

Ben O’Connor extended the lead to 3-1 before the halfway mark, but Taylor Dickin pulled one back.

A disappointing display in the third period undid all the hard work. A double from David Phillips plus a goal each from Levi Nelson and Matt Marquardt gave last year’s finalists a big cushion to take back to Sheffield.

Sheffield have been boosted by the return of enforcer Zack Fitzgerald.

The Tayside team have yet to win a game in Yorkshire. The closest they came was an overtime loss in November of the 2012-13 season.

Stars have taken just a single point from the 44 available in the 22 meetings at Ice Sheffield.

However, they received a boost with the return of Anthony Mastrodicasa to their line-up, and he played a crucial part in the 4-2 win over Edinburgh Capitals on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, Chris Lawrence is expected to make his return before Christmas Day.

Nelson and Fretter have bagged four goals against Dundee, and Robert Dowd, Valdix and Phillips have all netted three times each in the five straight victories this season.

Sheffield have outscored Stars 35-10, with Dundee scoring two in each game.

Brian Hart, Jimmy Jensen and Jordan Cownie have each scored once against Steelers this year. Taylor Dickin and Joey De Concilys both netted a pair, while Malcolm Gould’s three leads Dundee in goals against Sheffield.

Talking to Stars TV about the first leg against Sheffield, Stars head coach Omar Pacha said “I think there is 15 minutes of bad hockey and the thing is with a team like Sheffield you play bad for 15 minutes and you get out of your system, then they hurt you and they make you pay.”

Looking ahead to the second game, he added: “You never know, maybe we get a few bounces to make it a tight game or we have a really good start.

“We have to play the right way and keep stringing that momentum. We need to get back to Stars hockey.”

Steelers head coach Paul Thompson gave his thoughts after the first leg last Wednesday. He said: “I thought we played a great road game. We lost some flow in the first couple of periods.

“I got the response I was looking for from the team.

“They have had much criticism recently. They haven’t shied away. They have got their heads down and worked harder than ever.

“Tonight they got the reward for that hard work.”