Fife Flyers: 4-0 win over Dundee Stars as results align for last day showdown

The club went into the final weekend of league action with qualification not entirely in their hands.

Three steps sat between them and a place in the quarter-finals.

Stel one - defeat Dundee Stars. They did that with a solid 4-0 win in their last game on home ice.Step two- they needed Glasgow Clan to lose in regulation time at Sheffield.

Flyers’ west coast rivals led 3-1 at one stage, but eventually went down 5-4.

That leaves one more step when Flyers travel to Guildford where it’s win or bust.

It’s a long journey but one with a huge prize on offer, while Flames face an equally taxing return from Belfast where they lost not only the game but the league title.

Jeff Hutchins, Flyers’ associate coach, said: “To go into last day of season with play-offs in sight and back in our control is good, but we have to go and get a win in Guildford.

“Regardless of how they come out after losing the title, we have to be ready to grind out the win.

“It's all about confidence and this win gives us that. This is a great opportunity for us.”

Flyers delivered when it mattered most in a lively if rather scrappy game against Stars, who were battling to avoid the wooden spoon.

With a bigger crowd in the rink - 1800 was the attendance - the noise levels made for a good backdrop, and the fans enjoyed the back and forth game even if chances were few and far between on a 0-0 opening period.

Flyers killed off a five on three powerplay late in the period -Stars forward Elijah Barriga had two huge chances at the back door but sclaffed both of them.

Those misses proved costly as Fife struck in the second with two goals inside 50 seconds to finally open up this game.

They had some solid chances before a huge break out of defence left Stars trailing. Zack Phillips went down the right, found Janne Kivilahti who teed up Mikael Johansson to hit the net for the first of his two goals at 33:05.

Before the minute was out, Flyers struck again with some quick puck movement from Janne Laakkonen, and great execution from Dillon Lawrence for 2-0.

A few minutes later, Stars defenceman Cole Fraser got antsy at a face-off, stepped back from Jonas Emmerdahl and when the puck dropped so did his gloves.

The Fife skater opted not to engage, instead giving Fraser a wee wave goodbye as he departed down the tunnel on a pointless five plus game penalty for fighting.

It costs his team a third goal as Kamerin Nault - one of Fife’s stand out players - came off the back boards and picked out Phillips for a one-time shot into the net at 37:40.

Any hopes Stars harboured of a third period comeback were snuffed out two minutes in as Johansson picked up a loose puck and skated with Kivilahti, but went solo to slide it under the netminder.

Reece Harsch rattled Stars’ crossbar late on, and Owen built a brick wall to ensure a thoroughly deserved shut out on the evening he received the Mirror of Merit trophy for a third time.