It was the meeting of the bottom two teams in the league standings with the Flyers desperately seeking two points to close the nine point gap between themselves and the Stars over whom they had three games in hand. The Stars were without  Craig Moore, Alexander Tonge and Brogan O’Brien. The Flyers welcomed back Lucas Chiodo, Olivier LeBlanc and Ben Brown into the line up with Phélix Martineau, James Spence and Fynn Page all missing out. Teenager Joe Lynch was drafted in on a two way deal with the Edinburgh Capitals to make his debut and follow in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather in playing for the Flyers.

The Stars had the first shot of the contest after 25 seconds when Drydn Dow tested Shane Owen with a shot from the point. Jarrett Fiske in the Stars net was called into action when he stopped a shot from the blueline by Brodie Kay with a screen in front of him with 80 seconds on the clock. The Flyers got the opening goal of the game moments later when Tyler Heidt weaved his way down from the blueline and then dragged the puck around a sprawling Fiske to pop it into the net. In the 3^rd minute Owen had to be alert as he just got a piece of a flick by Keanu Yamamoto. In the 5^th minute Michael Cichy was called for a rough on Philippe Sanche and the visitors went on the first power play of the match. It took only 5 seconds for them to level the game when the puck was fed back to Dow at the point and his shot towards net was redirected up into the top corner of the by Brendan Harms who was in the slot. In the 8th minute Owen was again in action when he got a blocker to a shot from Brett Gravelle who came barreling down the right wing. The Flyers responded in the 10^th minute when Fiske produced a big toe save to deny Chiodo and the Stars keeper was busy again a minute later when he made a pad save after the puck was deflected at the edge of his crease by one of his own defencemen. A sweeping move by the Flyers in the 12^th minute ended with Kieran Craig firing over Fiske’s crossbar but the Stars were called for a penalty on the play with Craig Garrigan going to the box for hooking. The Flyers power play didn’t get anything set up to start with and almost lost a shorthanded goal when Spencer Naas broke up ice and his shot clanged the post and almost hit the back of Owen and roll into the net. As the man advantage was coming to an end Jordan Stallard had a clear sight of goal but Fiske shut him down to complete the kill. Owen made a superb reaction save in the 17^th minute as Naas once again went close with a redirect from the slot. The Flyers went the other way on a 2 on 1 but Chiodo ran out of road as he took the puck to the net. He was then called for a slash as the play swung the other way and from the resultant delayed penalty both Owen and Sanche were also given offsetting minor penalties for slashing and interference respectively. Owen made another highlight stop during the kill as the puck bounced fortuitously to Naas who was once again stoned by the Fife keeper as the Flyers returned to full strength.

In the opening minute of the second period Owen did well to track the puck as Alex Roberts got a shot on net following a spin-o-rama move. A minute later and the Stars won a face-off in the Flyers zone which resulted in a Sanche shot ringing off the post. The Flyers however did get the lead back again in the 23^rd minute when they won a battle for the puck outside the Stars zone and Craig took the puck down the right boards before centering to Massimo Carozza who drove the net and chipped the puck past Fiske. Owen performed heroics again in the 25^th minute when the Stars broke 2 on 1 and he again denied Naas before snagging the puck with his glove in a sprawling save on Harms. The Flyers then had a chance but Fiske swallowed a shot from Stallard before the home side were guilty of giving the puck away in the neutral zone and the Stars transitioned quickly and Naas feather the puck over to Zachary Tsekos who shot first time high into the net past Owen to level the game. The Stars really took the game by the scruff of the neck at that point and Owen was being peppered by shots in the Flyers goal but proved to be equal to everything that the Stars could throw at him. e Her made a shoulder save in the 28^th minute on a Stars one timer and then stoopped a Ben O’Connor slapshot as the Stars penned the Flyers into their own zone for long spellsw. He made a shoulder save from a one timer and then stopped a slapshot by Ben O’Connor as the Stars penned the Flyers into their own zone for long spells. In a rare Flyers foray up ice Fiske dealt with a shot by Craig in the 30^th minute. The waves of attack by the Stars continued with Jonathan McBean next with a good chance to be denied in the 32^nd minute. A shot by Olivier LeBlanc in the 35^th minute rebounded from Fiske and just failed to fall on the stick of Chiodo. In the final two minutes of the period Ryan Foss set up a chance for Chiodo but his shout slid just wide of the target.

The Flyers had the first chance of the third period when Stallard sent Chiodo in on goal but Fiske made a strong pad save. Owen made a fine leg save in the 42^nd minute to deny a tipped shot by McBean. Kameron Kielly saw his wicked wrist shot blockered away by Owen in the 45^th minute and in the 48th minute the Fife keeper made a save with his shoulder to keep the puck out from an O’Connor shot. Following the Stars spell of dominance in the middle period the game returned to being a fairly even contest and in the 51^st minute Kris Inglis was called for slashing and breaking the stick of Cichy to return the Flyers to the power play. Fiske didn’t have anything too threatening to deal with as the Stars killed the penalty and back at even strength Fiske mad a very good stick save to stop a wrist shot from the high slot from Craig. In the 53^rd minute the Flyers had another 2 on 1 break involving Cichy and Chiodo who slid the puck just wide of target. Moments later the Stars took the lead for the first time as they drew Owen out of position and as the keeper bit on a possible shot by Gravelle he passed the puck across the slot to Sanche who had an easy slam dunk into a wide open net. Cichy and Chiodo again had an odd man break but the puck wouldn’t fall for either. Owen made a huge pad save on Tsekos in the 57^th minute  and a minute later Fiske also came up huge when he made a stick save to deny Daniel Krenželok. The Flyers called a timeout and pulled Owen for an extra skater for the remaining time Noah Delmas got a shot on the Stars goal that Fiske held on to and Delmas at the other end then got a nick on the puck to deflect it wide of the unguarded home goal but try as Flyers might the Stars were able to wind down the clock and claim the win.

Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young

Fife Flyers are next at home on  Monday 30th December when they entertain the Glasgow Clan – tickets can be bought online here:  Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.