Flyers make it weekend double over rivals Dundee
Photo: Derek Black
Fife Flyers completed a weekend double over rivals Dundee Stars in the Challenge Cup with a two-goal win on the road on Tayside.
As they had done the night before, Dundee took an early lead. Tommy Parrottino broke on the rush and found Anthony Rinaldi across Shane Owen's crease to deflect the puck home inside two minutes. This time, however, the Flyers responded quicker. Colin Shirley shot in the slot through a crowd of players and the puck bobbled past Kevin Carr, possibly deflecting off a leg or two in front of him, for the tying goal at 5:23. The Stars then started to run into penalty trouble, and were punished by Anthon Eriksson striking at 10:35. Indeed, the home side were fortunate not to be further behind after taking a string of bad penalties - they killed a full two minutes of 5-on-3 midway through the period to build some momentum among their own fans.
The game continued to be penalty stricken in period two and it was a powerplay that allowed the Flyers to go 3-1 ahead - Anthony Eriksson getting on a rebound that bounced off his skate and into the net at 22:58. The goal was confirmed after a video review. Troy Lajeunesse made it 4-1 a little over two minutes later before Anthony Rinaldi hit a powerplay goal for the hosts at 27:14 off a nice pass from CarteR Johansson. The Stars killed off another 5-on-3 in the middle of the period, and the middle session ended with Fife two ahead.
Stars Head Coach Marc LeFebvre said his team needed to take less penalties in the end of period interview, but they were forced to kill off a five-minute major on Kris Inglis for boarding just 4:26 into the period. Having got through that, both sides ran into bench minors for having six skaters on the ice, but with it still a two-goal game inside the final two minutes Kevin Carr was pulled for the extra attacker. The Stars just couldn't get the puck over the line to get themselves back to within one, and the Flyers held on for their third straight win.
