Fife Flyers: four weekends to secure play-off spot

The team may be in ninth spot, but they have three games in hand over eighth-spot Glasgow Clan who are just three points ahead.

And barring any major last minute revival from tenth placed Dundee Stars - they have three games in hand over Fife - it should a straight east-west showdown for the last qualifying berth.

Despite taking just one point from their weekend games, Todd Dutiaume head coach, remains confident.

“Our message to the team is we are going to the play offs,” he said. “That was our goal from the start of the season. It is important the guys in the room have that belief.

“We have seven games left, and I firmly believe this is well in our our own hands, but we cannot let these games in hand slip away. We have to keep taking points and keep chipping away.”

Flyers go into this weekend’s home game against Nottingham Panthers on Saturday followed by a Sunday road trip to Coventry Blaze still juggling the impact of an illness that has knocked a number of individual players out of the line-up in recent weeks.

Zack Phillips missed Saturday’s loss to Clan but returned albeit still under the weather for the overtime defeat at the hands of Cardiff just as Kamerin Nault sat out.

Flyers main injury worry is Dillon Lawrence following the hit which took him out of the Challenge Cup final in the early minutes.

He missed the weekend, but planned a light skate in midweek ahead of a possible return against Panthers.

Regardless of who laces up, Dutiaume wants to see his team make a better start straight from the puck drop - an issue that has dogged many performances this season.

“At Belfast we were 3-0 down, and against Cardiff it was 2-0,” he said “We fight our way back into these games, but end up chasing them and to succeed doing that you need to near perfect.

“There also has to be an element of physicality in all areas of the ice. Our defencemen did a decent job against Cardiff in their zone, but if we want to put the top teams under pressure we have to separate the man from the puck. If we give them time and space they will break out too easily.

“When we did turn the screw, we played with a bit of an edge and the game turned. We were in control.

"We had a strong second half and that is where the key to success lies.”