The Flyers returned over the Irish Sea for their third visit already this season but this time it was in search of league points. Christian Purboo was given the start in net for the visitors who were still without the injured Justin Ducharme and Johan Porsberger.  For the Giants this was their first league matchup of the new season and they made a couple of changes to their line up from last weekend’s home shut out performance with the Flyers with Ben Lake scratched and Alexis Gravel coming in as back up and they also added Gabe Bast as a late scratch following the warm ups.

90 seconds into the game and Vlastimil Dostalek went down the left wing and fired in a fierce shot the Jackson Whistle got a blocker to. Purboo had a number of long range but routine shots to deal with before Whistle again made a fine save in the 4^th minute when he kicked out a shot from Jaka Sturm with the rebound almost falling on the stick of Keaton Jameson. The visitors were rewarded for their bright start when they opened the scoring at 6:27 when Jeremy Masella drove the net and was able to poke home a loose puck as Whistle scrambled around his crease. Purboo made a stick save on David Goodwin in the 8^th minute and a minute later he was again in action when he made three stops on Ryan Smith in rapid succession. In the 10^th minute Whistle fought off a wraparound effort from Dostalek and followed that up with saves from Josh Winquist and Ryan Nicholson. Jordan Kawaguchi got a step on the Flyers defence in the 13th minute but Purboo was square to his shot. The Giants levelled at 13.42 when down low pressure allowed Markus Eriksson to drop a pass pack out to Scott Conway who picked the corner of the net from the bottom of the circles. Jameson won a puck battle in the 17^th minute and forced an alert save from Whistle but the Giants broke quickly with JJ Piccinich going through between two Flyers players before being hooked by Dostalek to put the Giants on the first powerplay of the night. Winquist and Garet Hunt almost fashioned a short handed goal but Whistle held on and the Giants went ahead at 18:03 when Eriksson was net front to tip the puck forcing a fine pad save from Purboo but the Giants player corralled the rebound and swept it home past the prone Fife netminder.

The Flyers had the first chance of the second period when Ethan Somoza was denied by a stellar save by Whistle in the 21^st minute. A minute later and the Giants goalie survived an awkward moment when a dump in took a weird bounce off the glass and almost banked in off him but as he scrambled to regain his net he made tremendous blocker save on Didrik Svendsen and then followed that up by stopping a onetime blast by the same player. In the 25^th minute Jake Gaudet took the puck to the net and tried to drag it around Purboo who stayed strong to make the clearance. The Giants passed up on a 3 on 1 a minute later when David Goodwin elected to pass and Ian Scheid made a wonderful poke check. Purboo stopped Brandon Whistle on the short side in the 27^th minute and on their next rush the Fife goalie again denied Conway after some fine inter play in the Flyers zone. Gaudet drew another Giants powerplay in the 31^st minute as Andrew McLean was called for a slash. Masella made a big shot block with the Flyers penalty killers in scramble mode and Purboo made a blocker save on a huge one time blast by Mike Lee as the visitors returned to full strength. Whistle made a kick save on Masella in the 36^th minute and as the puck went down the ice the Flyers were called for too many men to return the Giants to the man advantage. The home side extended their lead at 36:19 with a huge stroke of fortune as Jordan Kawaguchi saw his pass or shot hit the knee of Scheid and redirect past Purboo. The Flyers went on their first powerplay in the 37^th minute as Brandon Whistle was binned for a rough on McLean. The Flyers had good zone time and Scheid was denied by a fine save by Whistle as the Giants returned to full strength. In the final few seconds Purboo was able to use his big frame to stop a rising shot from an angle by Smith.

It was a quiet opening to the final period with the Giants happy to retain possession and keep things tight. The Flyers luck was out again in the 44^th minute when a shot on the turn by Somoza struck a post with Whistle unsighted. Purboo then went east/west across his goal moments later to stop Eriksson. The Flyers goalie was again in action in the 46^th minute as he made a good stop on a Kawaguchi snap shot. Moments later Nicholson was stripped of the puck in his own end and Gaudet went in on Purboo who again stayed calm to make the glove save. The Giants were back on the powerplay in the 48^th minute as Mason Alderson got the gate for a hook in the neutral zone. The Flyers came up with a strong kill and in the dying seconds Winquist and Somoza made a short handed bit with the latter stretching to reach of a pass from Winquist to get enough on his shot to trouble Whistle. Back at full strength the Flyers went on the powerplay in the 51^st minute as Dostalek split the defence and went in on Whistle but was slashed on the play by Reid Irwin. The Flyers moved the puck around well with their man advantage and almost pulled a goal back as the puck hit something out front of Whistle who was rooted. In the final seconds Gaudet burst through the middle of the ice but Purboo shut down his shorthanded effort as the Giants then returned to full strength. Sturm forced a big pad save from Whistle in the 55^th minute. Purboo then denied Smith with under 3 minutes remaining before the Giants were again back on a powerplay as Alderson was penalised for kneeing. The Giants were again cautious on the powerplay keeping everything simple and the Flyers were able to kill it off but the clock wound down on their efforts.

Pic Credits – Belfast Giants

Fife Flyers are next at home on Sunday 19th October when they entertain the Belfast Giants – tickets can be bought online here:  Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.