Fife Flyers: three games in five days as they aim for a positive finish

The team host Guildford Flames on Saturday before travelling to Coventry Blaze on Sunday, returning in time to prepare for a Wednesday travel across the Irish Sea to take on Belfast Giants - the first of two trips there in a matter of days.

The focus remains on staying in games for the full 60 minutes and producing the best performances possible, knowing they can deliver a win - one that could impact on the title race and other teams’ play-off aspirations.

Flyers did just that against Giants at Fife Ice Arena on Saturday, and were pushing to force overtime, although the wheels came off early at Nottingham Panthers on Sunday as they shipped six goals in the opening 30 minutes. Coach Johnny Curran held up his hands and took responsibility.

“I’ll own that one, it’s on me,” he said. I wanted us to be as seamless as we were against Belfast - I loved our game - and pre-match I was getting them on the ice as quickly as possible and didn’t address them as much as I should have about Nottingham, and they cut us apart. They scored a ton of goals up high which I didn’t address.”

Curran made Wednesday an optional skate for players as he began his preparations for the weekend. Defenceman Patrick Kyte and forward Evan MacKinnon returned to the line-up at the weekend, but top points scorer Phelix Martineau remains sidelines with injury, and won’t be pushed into a return.

He has missed the club’s March schedule - his last appearance was in the 3-2 shoot out win over Glasgow Clan in late February - and is still listed as day to day as Flyers step back from icing players while hurt.

Curran said: “It is really about Marty’s comfort playing right now.”

The coach was pleased to see his two other injured imports return to the ice to give more depth to the roster,.

“Kyte and MacKinnon were great at the weekend,” he said. “They are both skaters, and can play with pace. The bodies also assist spreading out big minutes that some players have been tasked with.”

With the season long over for Flyers, the coach continues to draw positives from the games and is aiming to finish as well as possible.

“There were a lot of positives to take from Saturday,” he said. “It showed how good we can be on the day, but we didn’t follow up at Nottingham on Sunday.

“Our goals are the same for the remainder of the season - we want to put on strong performances that we are proud of. The players are still trying to showcase themselves for next season and we want to represent the club logo the best we can. A lot of games have been close this year and we have bene playing well overall - it makes it easier to see when we are competing and fully healthy.”