The Flyers and the Giants resumed their post-Christmas match up with the home side looking for a measure of revenge after the walloping inflicted upon them in Belfast on Boxing Day. The visitors made two changes and gave Alexis Gravel the start in net whilst they were without Jake Gaudet who missed out along with Sam Jones and Brandon Whistle. The Flyers also made a couple of changes with Christian Purboo returning in net and Garet Hunt replacing the scratched Giordano Finoro whilst Jeremy Masella was still sidelined through injury.

The Giant were the first team on the offensive and inside the opening 60 seconds Purboo was called upon to make a glove save and a blocker save.  The Flyers went on an early powerplay as Marcus Eriksson was called for a hook in the 2^nd minute.  It was a two man advantage 40 seconds later as Josh Winquist was tripped in the Giants zone. Gravel made a pad save from a  Justin Ducharme shot and then turned away a shot from Simon Despres with his stick as the Giants returned to four skaters. The Giants completed the kill after Gravel made a shoulder save on an Ian Scheid shot. In the 5^th minute Purboo held on to a Carsen Twarynski shot from the slot. In the 8^th minute Winquist went down the left wing and his shot rebounded from the pads of Gravel but there were no takers on the follow up. Moments later both David Booth and Logan Neilson went close after some neat interplay in the Giants end of the ice. The Giants almost took the lead in the 9^th minute but Purboo sprawled to keep Nicolas Guay off the scoreboard. Bo Hanson found himself all alone at the circles in the 11^th minute but Purboo flashed the leather before hanging on to a rip from Mike Lee from the point. The Flyers got the opening goal at 12:46 when Milan Lucic fed the puck through neutral ice for Booth to skate on to and his snapshot beat Gravel cleanly high on the glove side. The Flyers looked to add to their tally and Garet Hunt saw a shot saved by Gravel before Lucic put a puck just past the post. Purboo fought off a shot that came through traffic from the blueline in the 17^th minute and a minute later he had to be on his toes to swallow a short from Guay who stole the puck in the Flyers zone.

The Giants were on their first man advantage in the 22^nd minute as Ducharme was binned for a trip. The home side created the first chance with a shorthanded bid when Keaton Jameson went down the left wing and centered to Hunt who went to the net but couldn’t get enough on his effort to beat Gravel. Giants couldn’t get anything set up in the Flyers zone and Booth broke away with Despres in ssupport and the big defenceman had a spinorama shot saved by Gravel as the Flyers returned to full strength. In the 25^th minute Hanson snuck in at the back post and just couldn’t get the puck directed on net with Purboo sprawling across his crease. Moments later Johan Porsberger burst through the middle of the Giants defence but got in too close to Gravel who made the stop. Purboo shut down an effort by Ben Lake at the edge of his crease in the 31^st minute and moments alter Hunt was called for a hook to send the Giants back on the powerplay. Anton Karlsson had a shorthanded effort saved by the shoulder of Gravel before the Swede was penalised for boarding to give the visitors a two man advantage. The Giants made that count almost immediately as they worked the puck around and Guay beat Purboo with a one timer. The Flyers were down two man again shortly after the restart as Booth got his stick in the feet of Mike Lee and once again the Giants took advantage of their numerical strength when Jordan Kawaguchi was net front and the puck dropped on his stick and he went shelf to beat Purboo. Still on the penalty kill Ethan Somoza had  shorthanded chance and just as the penalty was expiring David Goodwin pinged the crossbar as the Flyers returned to full strength. The Giants added to their tally at 35:31 when they took the puck to the net and it fell kindly for Ciaran Long who was able to flick it past Purboo. The Flyers netminder came up big in the 37^th minute as he shut down a shot from Goodwin in the slot. The Flyers made it a one puck game at 38:24 after some fine set up play involving Karlsson who found Winquist and he shot the puck through Gravel’s five hole.

Into the third period and Purboo hugged the post in the 43^rd minute to stop Guay from close range. A give and go play between Karlsson and Jameson saw the later denied at the edge of the crease by Gravel. Guay had another shot on net in the 47^th minute that Purboo shrugged away and a minute later Winquist and Somoza both went close to getting the leveler as the Giants were in full scramble mode that ended with Garvel dislodging the nets for a delay of game call. The Flyers got back on terms almost immediately on the powerplay as a Porsberger one timer rebounded from the pads of Gravel and from the opposite circles Karlsson fired the puck into the net at 47:14. In the 49^th minute Eriksson drove the net but Purboo tracked him all the way and he followed that up with a pad save to deny Kawaguchi before Andrew McLean was given the gate for a trip. The Fife penalty kill was strong and they returned to full strength without the Giants getting a shot on goal. The remainder of the period saw both teams protect what they had to take the game into overtime.

The first couple of chances fell to the Giants in the extra session as Purboo kept out JJ Piccinich and Lee. Lucic fed the puck to Booth on a 2 on 1 but he missed the net. Purboo then came up with a huge save to rob Hanson before Karlsson took the puck for a skate but he couldn’t find the top corner with space to aim for. In the final seconds Gravel had to look sharp to stop a snapshot from Booth.

Into the penalty shootout which saw each of the first four shooters for each team all fail to light the lamp with Gravel having to make saves on all 4 Fife shots and Purboo two. Jameson broke the deadlock but Lake responded to send the contest into sudden death. Scott Conway was next up and Purboo again made a save to set up Karlsson who beat Gravel for the game winner.

Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young

Fife Flyers are next at home on Wednesday 31st December 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.