The Flyers were looking to pick up league points with the second visit of the defending Champion Sheffield Steelers. The visitors who have had some injury issues in recent weeks and on a three game losing skid were without Matt Greenfield, Colton Saucerman, Veeto Vainio and Joel Janatuinen. The Flyers welcomed back Austin Farley who had missed the previous 11 games and they also gave a debut to Ben Brown. Janis Voris, Nikolai Shulga, James Spence and Fynn Page were the other scratches.

Play was pretty even in the opening phase of the game but in the 2^nd minute Marc-Olivier Vallerand got a shot away that caught a piece of the pipe. Sheffield had some territorial advantage for the next few shifts and it was the 5^th minute before Jere Huhtamaa was tested in the visitors net when he dealt with efforts from Tyler Heidt and Noah Delmas with shots from up on the blueline. Owen made his first big save of the night when he shutdown Robert Dowd in the 6^th minute after a giveaway in the Flyers zone. Drake Pilon snapped a puck on goal a minute later and Huhtamaa made the save with his shoulder. The visitors went on the games first power play when Delmas was called for a trip on Maxim Golod. Immediately from the draw the Steelers struck metalwork again as a shot from Mitchell Balmas caught the top of the crossbar. Owen came up with a good blocker save on Golod as the Flyers completed the kill. In the 12^th minute Huhtamaa made a fine pad save to deny Jordan Stallard and the Steelers broke the other way and Patrick Watling had the goal at his mercy with Owen scrambling across his crease but his effort clanged the pipe again much to the Sheffield forwards utter disbelief. The opening goal was only delayed a few moments however as Mikko Juusola took a shot and the puck deflected straight into the path of Vallerand who had no problems hitting the wide open net. In the 15^th minute Delmas once again tested Huhtamaa from distance and as we were about to enter the final minute of the period the Flyers got the game tied up. Phélix Martineau put the puck on net and Huhtamaa was unable to control the rebound allowing Michael Cichy to pounce and bury the puck.

The second period was a minute old when Massimo Carozza who was hobbled in the latter stages of the first period after blocking the puck saw his effort fought off by the Sheffield netminder. In the 24^th minute Olivier LeBlanc and Cole Shudra came together after the Sheffield player had initially been called for roughing and the pair went to the box with the extra minor on the visitors putting the Flyers on their first power play. The Flyers controlled the puck well in the Steelers zone as they probed for an opening and Huhtamaa made an initial save from a Lucas Chiodo shot that he couldn’t hold and the puck broke to Cichy who popped the water bottle with a wicked wrister to give the Flyers the lead. From the restart the Steelers broke into the Flyers zone and Patrick Kyte was called for a slash as Mitchell Balmas drove the net. The Flyers came up with another strong kill with Owen only called upon once to make a routine save. In the 28^th minute the Fife goalie made a smart pad save on Brandon Whistle whilst immediately after at the other end Huhtamaa just got a piece of another wicked shot by Cichy with the shaft of his stick. In the 30^th minute Daniel Krenželok had a blast on the Steelers goal that Huhtamaa held. Owen stretched a minute later to get a glove to a Balmas shot as the teams traded chances. Owen was in action again in the 34^th minute when he went post to post to stop a shot from Vallerand and a minute later he was square to the shooter as Juusola fired one on net.

Into the third period and the next goal in the game was going to be crucial. Owen made a huge pad save in the 43^rd minute and the Flyers broke the other way with Pilon being denied by Huhtamaa. In the 44^th minute the Flyers increased their lead when Stallard and Ryan Foss combined with the latter going to the net and getting a deflection on the puck that went top shelf over Huhtamaa. The Steelers went back on the power play in the 45^th minute when Pilon was called for interference. Owen had to look sharp to deal with a slapshot from Golod and with a little under a minute of the kill remaining the Flyers were called again as Martineau took a holding penalty. The Steelers with a 5 on 3 man advantage worked the puck around but Owen had only one shot to deal with from Balmas before they returned to four skaters. The Flyers penalty kill was resolute as they returned to full strength. Krenželok had another heavy shot on net turned away by the pad of Huhtamaa in the 49^th minute but the Steelers quickly transitioned and on an odd man rush they executed well with Juusola driving the net and get the pass from Dowd to shovel the puck behind Owen. In the 52^nd minute the Steelers goal scorer got the gate for tripping Martineau as the Flyers went back on the power play. The Flyers got their two goal margin back again with a slice of luck as Martineau took the puck to the net and Sheffield attempting to clear the puck saw it bounce off a Steelers skate and trickle back into the net. In the 54^th minute Dowd drifted a shot just over the crossbar. Huhtamaa kept his side in the game a minute later when he made a huge save on Pilon and the Steelers were able to scramble the puck away from the front of their net. The Steelers managed to get the puck deep with two minutes on the clock and they pulled Huhtamaa for an extra skater. The pressure around the Flyers net paid off with 51 second left on the clock when Mark Simpson was able to beat Owen. On the restart the Steelers were able to pull their goalie again but with some determined defending the Flyers got the clock down to 8 seconds with a face off in their end at which point the Steelers called their time out. From the draw the puck was scrambled out of the zone and Pilon broke away and iced the game with an empty net goal with one tick remaining.

Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young

Fife Flyers are next at home on  Sunday 8th December when they entertain the Guildford Flames – tickets can be bought online here:  Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.