Fife Flyers' 11th straight defeat is 'microcosm of entire season'

Fife Flyers went into the EIHL Pride Weekend clash with title-chasing Cardiff Devils looking to restore some pride in their campaign after a run of 10 straight league defeats saw them rooted to the foot of the table, five points adrift of the play-off places.

Devils raced into a two-goal lead at the end of the opening period, Flyers restored parity to go into the final period all-square, before the away side showed their quality to seal the points.

Head Coach Todd Dutiaume was frustrated despite the brief flurry.

“I think that game is a microcosm of our entire season” he said.

“We came out and looked totally unprepared, and the score could have been significantly worse than it turned out to be.

“Then we come out in the second period and we’re clearly the better team, we looked like we had a bit of life about ourselves.

“Then the third period was just lacklustre, something I’ve had to say far too many times this season, and why we find ourselves in our current position."

A run that now reads as 11 straight defeats makes for some grim reading, but there were some crumbs of comfort in a game that showed some faint encouraging flashes for the home side.

Brit defenceman Sam Jones made his return from a lengthy injury lay-off to bolster the blue line and add some more offensive threat going forward.

Fife fans will always back a hard-working, grinding team win or lose.

It was notable that the arena was as electric as it has been this term when Flyers looked like pulling off an unlikely comeback from two goals down.

The Flyers faithful certainly responded positively to a solid performance where they looked to have the Devils on the ropes at points in the second period and could count themselves unlucky not to take a lead into the third.

Devils took a quick lead after the Fife defence were caught napping and Charles Linglet rounded Adam Morrison to nestle his backhand into the corner of the net with just 1.20 on the clock.

Cardiff doubled their advantage when Matt Pope rifled a one-timer into the top corner past a screened Morrison on the powerplay at 9.42.

Flyers got themselves back into the game after Devils took their turn to be caught short in their defensive zone and Carlo Finucci was on hand to finish from close-range following Mike Cazzola’s pass at 21.28.

In the process, Finucci became Fife's all-time EIHL point scorer with 201 in his fourth season in Kirkcaldy, a fantastic achievement.

Buoyed by their first goal, Fife drew level after driving Ben Bowns net, Tim Crowder slid a pass through to Cazzola, who sniped in at the near-post to rapturous scenes in the auld barn at 24.00.

The whole building seemed to get a lift after the equaliser, and there was a seismic shift in momentum for the home team in which Fife seemed to find an extra gear with only Ben Bowns preventing the hosts from taking the lead before the end of the middle stanza.

Flyers started the third period on the powerplay, but were unable to take advantage and, after Cazzola sat a minor for tripping, Devils regained the lead through Joey Haddad’s thunderous shot which flew past Morrison on 43.56.

Cardiff then restored their two-goal lead after Gleason Fournier strode into the Flyers zone and his low shot took a deflection of a Fife stick and wrong-footed Morrison to effectively end the game as a contest at 55.24.

The icing on the cake was provided by the outstanding Mike McNamee, who broke clear and finished smartly beyond Morrison at 58.45.

Flyers will attempt to avoid a 12th straight loss when they travel to Braehead Arena to face Glasgow Clan tonight. Face-off 4.30 p.m.