Fife Flyers celebrated their second straight home win, beating defending league and cup champions Belfast Giants in a shootout in Kirkcaldy.
In an opening period that saw Jeremy Masella and Ben Lake drop the gloves, the Flyers took a one-goal lead into the first break. Mike Lee crashed a slapshot home from the point while Andrew MacLean sat a holding minor.
Fife thought they’d levelled early in period two but the puck was put agonisingly wide of the target by the returning Didrik Svendsen. Barely a minute later, the Giants found themselves two up thanks to Sam Jones at 22:57 when he one-timed Reid Irwin’s pass past Christian Purboo.
The Flyers got a much-needed goal back with just over seven minutes left in the period thanks to Mason Alderson in close to make it a one-goal game.
Purboo saw Jake Gaudet’s shot bounce off him and into the net five and a half minutes into period three as the Giants went back two ahead. However, Johan Porsberger neatly finished Josh Winquist’s feed with just over seven minutes to play to pull the Flyers back to within one again.
Fife, to their credit, deserved an equaliser and found it with 3:30 to play — Ian Scheid shooting from almost below the goal line to bank the puck in off the back of Alexis Gravel and level the scores. The Giants called a timeout to steady their ship in the final stages.
The game went into overtime with both teams taking a point. There were chances in the bonus period but nothing clear-cut and so the game was decided in a shootout. The sides had a goal each through five rounds thanks to Josh Winquist and Scott Conway, but after JJ Piccinich missed his shot in the eighth round it fell to Keaton Jameson to beat Gravel five-hole and win it for the Flyers.
Photo: Flyers Images
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