Flyers stun leaders with two-goal win

Photo: Flyers Images

Basement side Fife Flyers pulled off a deserved win against league leaders Sheffield Steelers in Kirkcaldy on Wednesday night.

The home side had some early pressure but fell behind to a well-worked Steelers powerplay goal with 6:26 played, finished off by Robert Dowd from Keaton Ellerby's feed. However, less than six minutes later the Flyers were level through Kyle Thacker's one-timer that deflected through off Steelers' goalie Barry Brust's arm.

Brandon Magee's wrist shot from the edge of the circle beat a fully-sighted Brust low with 23 seconds left in the period to give Fife the lead at the first intermission. 

Fife could, have perhaps should, have extended their lead further further with good looks on Brust's net during the middle period. Those missed chances were to cost them, however, as John Armstrong tied the game as he and Evan Mosey broke 2-on-1 with 1:51 left in the period.

Robert Dowd put the Steelers back into the lead 43 seconds into the third, but that was cancelled out 57 seconds later by Jonas Emmerdahl's powerplay slapshot from the point. Jacob Benson gave the Flyers the lead with 10:28 to go when he got on a loose puck in front of Brust's half-guarded net. The Steelers' bench protested that the net was dislodged on the play, but Head Coach Aaron Fox declined to use his challenge to force a video review - replays suggested it was probably a wise decision. 

With Ellerby in the penalty box for tripping, Benson deflected Matt Carter's pass across the slot into Brust's net to five the hosts a 5-3 advantage at 52:24. Sheffield pressed for a goal to get them back into the game but were thwarted by Shane Owen in the Flyers' net, blocks in front of him, or indeed both. 

Brust was pulled with over two minutes to go, but the Steelers failed to create any dangerous scoring opportunities. On the other side of the ice, the Flyers iced the puck when presented with the change to do fire on the empty net which helped them suck any life out of the final 90 seconds of the game.

Fife remain at the foot of the table after their win, but have cut the gap to the playoff places to eight points. Sheffield continue to hold a two-point advantage on Belfast, but have now played an equal number of games as the Giants.