Tonight: November begins with four league matches

Part Two of a three-day hockey week

League points are up for grabs in four of tonight's games.

1900 Belfast Giants vs. Coventry Blaze

Giants’ forward Ben Lake faces his former team for the first time this season as Belfast and Coventry begin a home and home series this weekend.

A midweek success in Fife gave the Giants their fourth win in a row, and means they’ve collected all bar one of the available points in their last five matches - with 18 goals in the process. Although they started the season later after CHL duty and have played less games, the Giants have quietly built up the highest win percentage so far in the EIHL at 78%. Giving up just 2.11 goals against on average is also a league best.

Coventry lost their unbeaten road record in Cardiff midweek where they surrendered a three-goal lead to eventually go down after a shootout. However, Danny Stewart’s team have an identical league record to the Giants  of late– unbeaten in four and seven points from a possible last eight. The Blaze's powerplay at 22.64% efficiency is the second-best in league games.

“Every game in this league is a battle, and I expect more of the same this weekend. Coventry are one of the teams on top form at the moment, and we’ll have to be at our best. If you look at results over the last five to six games, they’re right up there.” – Adam Keefe (Head Coach, Belfast Giants)

“When we play the way we want to play, we not only compete with all teams but have also beaten many as well. We’ve had a heavy schedule in the past 10 days or so and, although we may have some tired legs, we need to play the way we did the first period in Cardiff every game for 60 minutes.” – Danny Stewart (Head Coach, Coventry Blaze)

1900 Glasgow Clan vs. Dundee Stars

Scottish derby hostilities resume in Glasgow as the Clan look for their first win over Dundee this season in any competition.

The sides met a week ago with Dundee coming out winners again, putting them 3-0 up in the series so far. That result was part of three losses in their last four for the Clan, who went down midweek in Guildford in overtime.

Conversely, that home win for Dundee ended a losing run of five straight games. The Stars were beaten midweek in Nottingham, but do have an unbeaten away record in Scotland to preserve with tonight’s game. The Clan are one of the most efficient scorers in the EIHL – they average the least amount of shots per game of any team, but average the second-highest number of goals a game. Dundee have the league’s worst defense, giving up an average of 4.62 goals a game, but do have a top five powerplay going at the other end.

“We’ve had some issues with Dundee this season, but I think it’s about time we got back on track against them! We’re back at home and these Scottish derbies with the fans are great. We’re looking forward to it, and I think we owe them one.” - Zack Fitzgerald (Head Coach, Glasgow Clan)

“We just have to build on the positives from the last game. It was a tough result, but we need to have a short memory and learn from our mistakes and take what worked well for us moving forward. It’s always exciting playing against Scottish rivals and especially after Wednesday, because we want to get back to playing well and get back to winning ways. Glasgow are a really good team, so we just need to focus on what we have been doing well in the past against them and continue to build on that.” – Drydn Dow (Defenseman, Dundee Stars)

1900 Sheffield Steelers vs. Guildford Flames

League leaders Sheffield Steelers welcome one of the EIHL’s form sides to the FlyDSA arena as both teams look to continue good recent form.

The Steelers are two unbeaten and have an impressive record of just a pair of losses in their last ten games. Averaging 4.50 goals a game, the men in orange are the league’s highest scorers by some distance, but they also give up the second-fewest number of shots per game (26.08) in the league.

Guildford have won four games in a row, but perhaps more impressively have only lost two during the entire month of October - they also match the Steelers’ record of eight wins from their last ten games. Key to this has been giving up very few goals, only conceding an average of 2.50 in league games is the second-best in the EIHL; while Travis Fullerton is the league’s hottest goalie over the last five rounds. They have however lost on their last three trips to Sheffield.

“It was nice to get some momentum on Wednesday, especially in front of a big crowd. We need to continue in that vein and hopefully put on another entertaining performance tonight.” – Aaron Fox (Head Coach, Sheffield Steelers)

“We know what to expect from Sheffield: they're a good team, full of confidence at the minute and scoring goals. We have to just worry about the way we can play, but are looking forward to the weekend series.” – Paul Dixon (Head Coach, Guildford Flames)

1915 Fife Flyers vs. Cardiff Devils

Fife are back on home ice after the midweek TV loss to Belfast, looking for the first win on their at home since 13 October.

The Flyers’ only victory in their last six games was on the road in Guildford, a worrying run of form that’s seen them win just three matches from the last 13. Fife’s penalty kill at a league-worst 74.55% has been part of the problem, as well as placing seven out of ten teams for both average goals for (2.75) and against (3.42). 

Cardiff survived a scare midweek but were able to come back from three down to beat Coventry in a shootout and advance to the Challenge Cup Quarter-Finals automatically. It was a win that ended a run of two losses in a row, although in league-only action the Devils have three victories from the last four games. Special teams are where the Devils are dangerous; they have the league’s best powerplay by some distance at 26.32%, and a kill of 93.33%- also a league high.

“The players are asking questions of themselves, and that is a difficult place to be. They need to feel that if they start doing the right things then they’ll get on track. Sometimes when you’re in a rut that’s difficult to see, but we just have to fight our way out of it.” – Todd Dutiaume (Head Coach, Fife Flyers)

“We’re going into two very tough games in Scotland. While the win over Coventry will have given us a shot of confidence, at the same time we do have to clean a few things up and make sure we’re better. We’ll have to be this weekend to be successful against two very dangerous teams.” - Andrew Lord (Head Coach, Cardiff Devils)