The Flyers and Giants once again for their 6th meeting already this season. The Flyers still missing Justin Ducharme and Johan Porsberger made a couple of changes to their roster from the previous night in Belfast with Ben Keddie backing up and Joe Lynch being added. The Giants also still missing Gabe Bast, Ben Lake and Josh Roach were unchanged with Karl Boudrias who was listed the previous night but did not play scratched completely for this one.
The game was a wide open affair from the opening puck drop with the Giants creating the better quality chances in the early exchanges. In the 2nd minute Christian Purboo who was making his first back to back starts of the season blockered away a heavy shot from Sam Jones from the blueline. He then made a strong pad save on another long range shot this time Bo Hanson. Jackson Whistle wasn’t exactly a spectator but his shots to this point had been more routine. The visitors opened the scoring at 6.27 after a diving block by Andrew McLean following which the Giants recycled the puck and Hanson found Marcus Eriksson who sniped the puck past Purboo’s glove. Whistle had his first big test moments later when he stopped an Ian Scheid wrister. The Flyers were back on level terms at 8.57 thanks to some dogged work by Lynch who chased down a puck behind the Giants net and won his board battle before he tried a wraparound on Whistle who got a piece of it but the puck fell for Didrik Svensdsen who scooped the puck into the net. In the 11th minute Whistle was scrambling as Jameson almost gave the home side the lead and a minute later the Giants keeper spilled a shot before the puck was cleared. Purboo got a blocker to another Hanson drive and then he did well to deny the Giants effort from the trailing man in the slot. Hanson fired a couple of point shots in succession that both caught the bottom of the goal frame.
Purboo made a sharp save 30 seconds into the middle period as he snagged a shot through traffic from Ryan Smith. The Giants were starting to control the game in the Flyers end of the ice and in the 23rd minute Purboo denied Jake Gaudet but the visitors pressure paid off at 25.09 when Eriksson found a wide open Scott Conway who buried his chance. There were off setting minors handed out for unsportsmanlike conduct to Jeremy Masella and Nicolas Guay in the 27th minute and moments later a rush up the left wing by McLean saw him get in on Whistle who did enough to make the save but David Goodwin was called for a hook on the play sending the Flyers on the first powerplay of the game. The man advantage counted as the Flyers got back on terms after a poor attempted clearance from the Giants zone was picked off by Josh Winquist who passed to Jameson and his slap pass across the crease was redirected past Whistle by Ethan Somoza. Winquist had a breakaway in the 30th minute but Whistle was able to get enough on the puck. Jordan Kawaguchi sold out to make a huge shot block in the 32nd minute and the Giants went the other way with Ryan Nicholson being called for hooking. The Giants first chance on the powerplay fell to Smith who burst through with speed but he shot over the net and the Flyers goalie was happy to cover up the puck in a scramble around his crease which allowed the Flyers to complete the kill. Purboo was again in action in the dying seconds of the period as he flung himself across goal to cover up another loose puck.
The game was finely poised and the next goal was always going to be crucial and it was the Giants who grabbed it at 43.05 when the Giants recovered the puck in the Flyers zone and Mike Lee was able to find Smith in the slot who lifted the puck on the backhand over Purboo’s blocker. The momentum completely swung the way of the Giants less than 90 seconds later as the Flyers were punished for turning the puck over in the neutral zone and the visitors broke down ice with Goodwin setting up Guay who managed to squeak his shot through Purboo. In the 48th minute Ciaran Long and Svendsen got into a bit of a scrum with the only penalty being handed to the Flyers player for roughing. The Flyers penalty kill was strong and midway through Somoza had look at goal from the high slot but his shot went high as the Flyers completed the kill. The Giants iced the game at 54.57 when they broke 2 on 1 and with a suspicion of offside Eriksson and Conway exchanged tic tac toe passes with the latter having an easy task to find the net. Following a stoppage in play at 55.32 a number of players came together notably Garet Hunt and Guay along with Long and Scheid who were all ejected from the game on fighting majors along with Winquist who was assessed a major for cross checking. Playing the remainder of the game on the powerplay the Giants were content to be patient and manage the game to a conclusion rather than chase any further goals.
Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young
Fife Flyers are next at home on Wednesday 22nd October when they entertain the Dundee Stars – tickets can be bought online here: Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.
