Veteran David Booth fired a glory treble as Fife Flyers moved off the bottom of the ten-strong Elite League table with a 6-3 victory at arch rivals Dundee Stars.
Booth, a veteran of over 500 National Hockey League games, counted after 30 minutes and then four minutes later before completing his treble with less than two minutes remaining.
Mention must also be given to Anton Karlsson with two goals and two assists in the confidence-boosting road win.
Now, the Tayside team replace Fife in bottom spot and the pair meet at The Fife Ice Arena on December 31 (16.00) in the return.
Christian Purboo started between the pipes for Fife and it was the visitors who edged ahead after 10min 12sec when Karlsson, the hero of Sunday’s shootout success over Belfast Giants, on the mark again.
Keaton Jameson provided the ammunition and the strike cheered Flyers fans in the Festive crowd.
The goal came after a period of pressure from coach Jamie Russell’s success-hungry visitors who outshot the home side in the early stages. Indeed, the shot count at the first break was 29-12 in favour of Flyers.
Booth added a second with Karlsson and Johan Porsberger assisting after 30min 20 sec and it became 3-0 when the 41-year-old netted unassisted after 34min 56sec.
It became 4-0 when Ethan Somoza counted on 42min 48sec before Stars pulled one back from Spencer Naas four minutes later.
Any hope of a comeback was snuffed out when Karlsson hit the rigging for No 5 after 51min 26sec. Stars did claim a second through Matthew Boudens with the clock on 52min 24sec and then scored a power play strike to cut the deficit again.
Matt Berry was on the mark here at 57min 56sec with Jonas Emmerdahl in the sin bin for slashing, but Booth rounded off a glory night for the travelling fans with a sixth on 58min 29sec with Karlsson again providing an assist.
PICTURE: Jamie Russell on the bench for Flyers. Picture Scott Wiggins
