Fife Flyers ‘dramatically outcompeted’ in 8-0 rout at Belfast Giants
Road trips will surely come no tougher than this one which saw Belfast Giants sink Fife Flyers 8-0.
Head coach Jamie Russell said his team was “dramatically outcompeted” and Giants made them pay on a number of occasions across the 60 minutes.
The long journey across the Irish Sea meant an early start, and Fife iced without key forwards Vlastimil Dostálek and Justin Ducharme, and then saw Didrik Svendsen limp off at the end of the second.
They came under heavy pressure from the start, with the bulk of the damage coming in the middle period as Giants hit the net four times. Their hosts took the lead inside six minutes when Patrick Grasso finished off an excellent set-up from Jordan Kawaguchi. Mike Lee doubled the advantage at 10:44 with a one-timer from the point as Belfast took full control of the opening period.
A nightmare middle frame for Flyers saw the Giants add four unanswered goals. JJ Piccinich struck at 26:10 before Kawaguchi and Grasso found the net just 46 seconds apart to stretch the lead to 6-0.
That prompted coach Russell to call a time out to regroup, and his side kept Giants at the bay for the remainder of the period, but they also lost Svendsen as he was called for tripping and limped off injured.
The hosts were not finished, however. Kawaguchi grabbed his second of the night only 60 seconds into the third, and Grasso followed up a Kawaguchi shot to complete the scoring with just under eight minutes remaining.
Jackson Whistle celebrated the shut out as Fife headed back to the ferry to begin the long overnight journey back home.
Russell said: “It was pretty straight forward. They were pretty good and we were not.”