Stars chase play-off spot in trip to Nottingham

DUNDEE Stars are on the road tonight as they visit Nottingham Panthers to continue their late charge for an Elite Ice Hockey League play-off spot, as they aim to close the gap between them and the final berth.

Stars have just five games left this season and they need to close an eight-point gap to Glasgow Clan if they are to qualify for the play-offs.

With just 10 points left to play for, Dundee cannot afford to drop any more and they require Clan to lose their final two matches.

This will be the Tayside team’s last league visit to Nottingham this season and, despite not winning any points from the Motorpoint Arena this campaign, they have played well against the Panthers.

Corey Neilson’s men are also still searching for wins as they jostle for positioning in the league table to secure a better play-off spot.

Stars could have full a line-up available for tonight’s match as they have no new injury concerns and Swedish winger Romans Semjonovs, who has been out since the start of February, is nearing a return.

Stars head coach Jeff Mason said: “We have spoke a lot about the fact that we are doing a lot of things well and feel that we have probably deserved more points than we have come away with.

“We had a really good performance on Saturday night, it was one of our best this season and we had everybody pitching in but obviously fatigue was a big factor on Sunday.

“So, hopefully we will be a bit better rested up and can go into Nottingham, which is a building that we have played some pretty good hockey in this year, and try to establish a lead, play from the front and take the game to them.”

Face-off tonight is at 7.30.