Elite League: Braehead Clan 3, Fife Flyers 6
Shayne Stockton netted a goal and set up three others as fired-up Fife Flyers took a big step towards clinching the Gardiner Conference title with a 6-3 victory at nearest rivals Braehead Clan.
And, at the same time, they provided a boost to Dundee Stars’ bid to edge injury-hit Clan for a coveted play-off place.
Fife, who have now won six out of their seven meetings with Clan so far this term, secured the welcome win thanks to a strong first period. American-born centre Stockton collected the first goal after nine minutes with Charlie Mosey providing the assist.
And Liam Heelis was not long in joining him on the scoresheet with No 2 after being set up by Carlo Finucci and 28-year-old Stockton. Time 14min 33sec.
The third goal came four minutes after when Danick Gauthier fed Mosey who found Chase Schaber who buried the puck in the Clan net.
The home side clawed a goal back through defenceman Cameron Burt, the current Elite League Player of the Week, after 32 minutes but Peter LeBlanc took advantage of Clan penalty problems to secure the fourth with 6ft 2in Stockton from Rochester, New York, again involved along with Gauthier.
The goal came inside the final three minutes of the middle session and had Flyers fans jumping.
The home side hit back through Jacob Doty after 51 minutes to cut the deficit but Finucci assisted by the busy Stockton popped in Flyers’ fifth 41 seconds later to ease the nerves of visiting fans and stun the Purple Army.
And Fife, who iced debutant Dan Correale, made it 6-2 when Danick Gauthier scored on an empty net when the Glasgow side withdrew their netminder to have six skaters. The move backfired.
However, Braehead claimed a third through former Dundee star Felix-Antoine Poulin with less than two minutes left.
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