Fife Flyers came from two goals down to tie Belfast Giants and then win in a shootout in an entertaining game at Fife Ice Arena on Sunday night.
Belfast survived an early Flyers 5-on-3, but it was the home side who had the better of the opening stages. Josh Winquist got onto the end of a good Logan Neilson stretch pass but could not beat Alexis Gravel around the 13-minute mark. David Booth then teed up Neilson with an excellent pass, but the shot went just wide. Johan Porsberger also had a decent look as the Flyers created several strong chances.
Nicolas Guay had the best of the Giants’ early opportunities but could not out-deke Christian Purboo.
With 7:14 to go in the first, a good breakout pass from Jonas Emmerdahl was neatly helped on by Milan Lucic at centre ice to Booth, who skated through and beat Gravel with a low shot to give the Flyers a deserved lead.
Booth arguably had the best chance of period two to double the advantage when he squeezed between two defensemen, but again Gravel denied him. At the other end, Ben Lake hit the outside of Purboo’s post as the Giants pushed for an equaliser.
The game turned on two quick Flyers penalties, putting Belfast on a 5-on-3 they did not waste. Guay blasted home a one-timer to tie the game at 33:57. Booth then took a tripping minor on the Giants’ goal line to put Fife down to three skaters again, and Jordan Kawaguchi tapped home a loose puck at 33:39 to put Belfast ahead. Back at full strength, the Flyers were undone again when Ciaran Long struck with 4:29 left in the period to make it 3-1.
Fife struck back before the buzzer to restore hope. Winquist took his time in the slot before firing past Gravel with 1:36 left in the second to bring it back to a one-goal game.
The Flyers scored the only goal of the third on the powerplay. Porsberger’s shot was saved, but the rebound fell kindly for Anton Karlsson to fire home from distance 7:14 into the period. With the scores tied through 60 minutes, the game headed to overtime.
Lucic set up Booth on a 2-on-1 in overtime, but he shot just wide, while Booth later forced Gravel into a good save straight from a faceoff with seven seconds remaining.
There were no goals in the first four rounds of the shootout. Justin Ducharme and Ben Lake both scored to take it to sudden death. Scott Conway then missed, leaving Karlsson to win it for the Flyers.
Photo: Flyers Images
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