Flyers and Giants meet in Friday Cup Action

Photo: Flyers Images

It’s Premier Sports Challenge Cup action this Friday night with one scheduled game to kick off a total of eight this weekend.

The Fife Flyers host the Belfast Giants in Group A for the second time this season already, but with both sides having gone in very different directions in their opening fixtures.

Fife have yet to win this season. Todd Dutiaume’s side have played two cup games and lost them by a combined score of 11-2, while in the league they’ve also lost as many, scoring just one goal in the process. Last weekend’s heavy home defeat to local rivals Dundee will leave the coaches and fans hoping for a reaction tonight.

While Dutiaume will hope to see improvements in nearly all areas of his team’s game, special teams will be an early concern – the Flyers have yet to convert on the powerplay while their penalty kill is at a lowly 37.5%. The team also give up the highest number of shots across league and cup, averaging 43 per game.

Belfast meanwhile have won three of their four cup matches thus far, only slipping to defeat in Dundee last Sunday, with a 15-8 goals record through those games. Forward David Goodwin leads the cup for goals and points (4 goals, 8 points) while Tyler Beskorowany and Jackson Whistle are stopping over 94% and 93% of shots respectively.

The Giants boast the cup’s best penalty kill at almost 89% (aside from Nottingham who have only played one game), while only giving up 28 shots per game is the stingiest in the competition so far.