The Flyers welcomed the Devils to Kirkcaldy for the final time in the regular season. The home side welcomed back Logan Neilson after his GB duty with Rowan Mills dropping out. Shane Owen got the start again with Christian Purboo scratched with both Josh Winquist and David Booth still injured. The Devils had long term injury victim Nolann Yaremko back in their line up and they started Christian Stoever in net ahead of Ben Bowns with Connor Caponi , Evan Mosey and Cole Sanford all scratched.
The first shot on net came inside the opening 30 seconds as Kohen Olischefski tested Owen who knocked the puck to safety into the corner. The Devils went closer still in the 2nd minute when a shot from Yaremko deflected off Jeremy Masella’s stick to beat Owen but it clunked the post. Moments later at the other end Stoever was in the game as he made two saves on Johan Porsberger shots before eventually covering up the puck. In a 3rd minute a rising shot from Garet Hunt was bobbled then held by the Devils goalie. A minute later and Joey Martrin found space in the slot but Owen was able to shoulder his shot away. The Flyers goalie then flashed the glove in the 8th minute to snag an Olishefski shot from the circles. The Flyers created an odd man rush in the 11th minute as Milan Lucic broke into the zone and his pass to Ethan Somoza was fired wide of the net. The Devils went the other way and Owen made a pad save on Steven MacLean before the Flyers then transitioned quickly and Stoever did well to get his pad down on a one time blast from Jonas Emmerdahl from the high slot. Owen made a huge save in the 14th minute to deny Sam Duggan but the visitors broke the deadlock at 15:20 when they worked the puck around in the zone and Brandon Estes dished to the right of Owen’s goal to Jimmy Oligny who found the net from an angle. A one timer from Logan Neilson from the circles in the 17th minute was swallowed by Stoever and in the final minute of the period good forecheck pressure from Hunt enabled the puck to find Mason Alderson and he fired a shot of the mask of the Devil’s goalie.
The second period started with a heinous giveaway by the Flyers from behind their own net and Kristoff Kontos didn’t pass up the present as he went to the net and deked the puck around Owen. In the 24th minute a sweeping Flyers move ended with an Anton Karlsson shot wide of the target. Masella and Yaremko then dropped the gloves in the 28th minute as they both sat out offsetting major penalties for fighting. Stoever made a big toe save on a shot from Porsberger in the 29th minute. Brett Perlini took the puck for a skate around the back of the Flyers net in the 34th minute and came out in front but Owen fronted the shot. A minute later Gleason Fournier let a heavy shot go from the blueline but Owen stood tall. The Fife goalie came up big again in the 36th minute as the Devils broke 2 on 1 and he was able to thwart Sam Duggan’s effort. The Flyers went to the first powerplay of the game in the 36th minute as Olischefski challenged Keaton Jameson along the boards and on review the penalty was upgraded to a five plus game for checking to the head. The Flyers spluttered with the man advantage with Ian Scheid getting a shot in from the slot the was blockered away by Stoever before a onetime rip from Porsberger knocked the stick out of the goalies hand and it flew behind the net. The Flyers were desperate to get shots on the stickless goalie but their play was ragged and the Devils cleared the zone. Porsberger had another effort that Stoever made another save on as the period ended.
The 44 seconds of remaining powerplay time for the Flyers was easily killed off by the visitors to start the third period. The Flyers were guilty of another turnover in their zone in the 42nd minute and they were bailed out by Owen who made the stop on Josh MacDonald. Mason Alderson tried to stuff the puck in at the near post but Stoever held his ground and the Devils went on the powerplay as Giordano Finoro was called for a cross check behind the Devils net. The Flyers penalty kill was strong but with just 40 seconds remaining Porsberger was binned for a trip as the Devils tried to exit their zone to give them a two man advantage. The Devils called their timeout and the Flyers killed the first penalty to return to four skaters just as the Devils passed the puck around effectively to create an opening for Estes to fire them further ahead at 43:53. The Devils passed up a great chance to do further damage when they broke up ice 4 on 1 with Simon Despres the only Flyer in the vicinity but Kontos elected to try and snipe the top corner only to be denied by a flashy glove save by Owen. The Flyers then went back on another powerplay in the 49th minute as Joey Martin was sent to the box for a high stick on Karlsson. Neilson had another one timer from the circles saved by Stoever and Lucic tried to beat the Devils netminder short side but he was alert and the visitors returned to full strength. The Flyers gave themselves some life when a strong forecheck by Despres forced a giveaway by the Devils defense and Somoza played a beautiful pass from behind the net onto the tape of Finoro who made no mistake at 55:05. With 3 minutes remaining the Flyers took their time out and elected to pull Owen for the extra skater and after some set up play involving Karlsson and Porsberger the puck went to Jameson who managed to squeak one behind Stoever on the short side with his backhand effort at 58:03. Soon after the restart Owen was back on the bench with 80 seconds to play but a pass back to the blueline saw the puck bobble over the stick of Andrew McLean and Cedric Lacroix skated down the ice to deposit the puck into the yawning net. The result was a full line stramash with various players throwing punches and all 5 players from each team were given 10 minute misconduct penalties along with a game penalty added on to Brett Ferguson for abuse of official at the end if the game. Owen went back to the bench again with a minute left to play but the Flyers never got a clear sight of the Devils goal.
Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young
Fife Flyers are next at home on Saturday 14th February 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.
