Fife Flyers’ hefty defeat at Belfast in another turbulent week off the ice

Belfast Giants now lead Fife Flyers by massive 51 points after cruising to an effortless 8-1 victory over the struggling Fifers on Friday night.

It was another tough road trip in an unimaginably tough week for the team with Canadian forward Ryan Foss walking out, and defenceman Noah Delmas’ season ended by injury. In the face of adversity, there is little respite for Johnny Curran’s shellshocked side.

The interim coach admitted: “We have a lot of outside distractions - we lost one of our best defencemen with a knee injury for the year, and a guy walks out on us to pursue an opportunity in North America. That adds to all the other dramas - the guys are going through a lot off the ice.”

Curran was disappointed to see clusters of goals given up early in the periods - a recurring issue - describing it as “disheartening” but added: “That is something we want to address, but there is a lot going on and I can’t commend the guys enough for their effort. They keep coming.”

Former captain Jonas Emmerdahl’s return as cover for Delmas took the bench to just 14 skaters and two netminders against a side shooting for the title, and this game started to shift away from Fife after the first period. They trailed 3-1 at the break, and any hopes of a revival hinged on them getting a goal early in the second. Giants slammed that door shut with three unanswered goals.

Overall, Jordan Kawaguchi bagged hat trick as the Northern Ireland side went 10 points clear at the top of the Elite League table in front of more than 6000 fans.

They were ahead inside 90 seconds as captain Mark Cooper gave was set up at the far post by Kawaguchi. Fife tied the game at 3:43 with a

Massimo Carozza touch off a Tyler Heidt shot that squeezed through Tom McCollum’s five-hole.

JJ Piccinich was given too much time in the offensive zone to pick his spot past Shane Owen at 9:47, while a flukey goal by Pierre-Olivier Morin made it 3-1 with just over two minutes left in an opening period in which Giants outshot their visitors 28-4.

The writing was on the wall early in the second as Gabe Bast netted within 25 seconds after the Flyers failed to clear their zone, and 17 seconds later Kawaguchi had his first of the night to make it 5-1. The Giants' forward then got on the end of a well-placed Scott Conway pass to make it 6-1 with only 23:28 gone.

The game entered a lull before Scott Conway made it seven 46 seconds into the third, while Kawaguchi buried a rebound with 4:23 left in the game to seal his hat-trick.