Fife Flyers rue penalty shots defeat to Nottingham Panthers

The teams are locked in a race for tenancy of third place in the EIHL.
Panthers came to Kirkcaldy on the back of a six-game losing streak, and playing the last of their ‘three on three’ in Scotland.

They led Flyers by five points, but the Fife side have six games in hand.

Instead of emerging with a result which closed the difference to just three points, Flyers saw it widen to six as they went down 3-2

after penalty shots.

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That gave them a three point weekend overall, but the team may yet reflect on nights like this as moments when their ambitions of a highest ever finish were punctured.

For Todd Dutiaume, head coach, there were positives, but there was also frustration.

“That was a big missed opportunity,” he said. “We needed both points and not even give Panthers one.

“We failed to capitalise on our chances, particularly in the second period. We had two point blank chances in overtime, but if you can’t convert, then you go to penalty shots where anything can happen.”

Flyers had some good spells of pressure in a game that didn’t spark the two sets of fans into action until the closing minutes as regulation time ended with some punches amid the stalemate.

Their best chances fell to the line of Paul Crowder, Carlo Finucci and Brett Bulmer – whenever they hustled and stepped up the pressure, Panthers defence rocked on its heels, and it needed netminder Michael Garnett to be at the top of his game.

Flyers lost the opening period 1-0, coughing the only goal just five seconds before the buzzer, Mark Hurtubise’s shot on the turn finding the net with killer timing.

They needed a quick response, and it came at 22:22 when Finucci made a great steal behind the net to set up Crowder to fire home.

The clock was ticking when Panthers went ahead at 54:03 with a thunderbolt of a shot from defenceman Dylan Olsen on the powerplay. Standing wide on the left he made good position, called for the puck and drilled a superb shot into the net.

With a couple of minor penalties changing play from even handed to short handed, Fife finally got the equaliser by pulling Owen for a six on four finale.

It paid off as they swarmed round the net. Evan Stoflet saw one shot serve up a tantalising rebound, and a second one simply fly through traffic for 2-2.

Overtime saw Fife create more chances without ringing the red light, and it ended with Bulmer and Alexandre Bolduc exchanges glowers at the team benches. Rick Pinkston, who had a very solid game, barrelled in, sparking a melee which took an age to resolve.

The referees handed out a flurry of minor penalties, but the heftiest went to Panthers’ Jon Rheault who turned a two-minute misconduct into a game penalty.

While they all headed to the dressing-rooms, the focus returned to the ice pad for the penalties,

There were far more misses than those converted - Kovacs made the breakthrough, and Luke Pither sealed the deal with a shot which was about to be washed out before the puck struck metalwork and rolled across the line. When Finucci couldn’t’hit the net in response, it was game over.