Fife Flyers head to Glasgow Clan – one year to the day of last win in the west

After steering his Dundee Stars side to a big 6-4 win at Fife Ice Arena on Friday evening, Marc Lefbevre said: “This league is tough, you need points every weekend whether it's one, two, three or four. You can't have a zero point weekend.”

For Flyers to avoid that scenario, they have to deliver at Braehead. That means snapping a six game losing streak in which they may not have been blown out the water, but points have been lost as the team has struggled to find ways of winning. Golden breakaways have been passed up, posts struck, and hot goalies encountered, but these are all part and parcel of hockey - and the team needs to make them count to get its mojo back.

Lefebvre summed up Stars win in Kirkcaldy thus: “A massive result. We set ourselves goal of maximum points and got the job done .”

Getting the job done is what Flyers have to start doing tonight. Tom Coolen, head coach, is well aware of the challenge.

“We were not good enough - that's what I will take home with me” he said after Friday’s loss. “We turned puck over early in period two, and gave up a two on one and Stars scored; just what we talked about not doing, and we did. There was some pushback for our fourth, but all in all,our game not good enough. We need to play 60 minutes.”

Flyers head west without key forward Teemu Pulkkinen who is out injured, although Coolen hopes he will return next weekend.

The coach is likely to dress all his defenceman again for warm-up before deciding who gets the nod to play. Sean Giles skated against Stars - his first competitive outing of the season and his first since arriivng in Kirkcaldy the day before - with Brady Poteau sitting out. The new blueliner replaced Adam Holwell in the roster, and Coolen is confident he will be a top line skater.

It will be exactly a year to the day of Flyers’ last victory on Clan ice when they won 2-1 with goals from Zack Phillips and Janne Kivilahti. They need a repeat of that to kick-start the next push forward.