The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Flyers pay price for late meltdown
Dundee Stars lose out to Coventry
Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars both suffered defeats last night.
Flyers suffered a final-period meltdown in their Challenge Cup match at rivals Edinburgh Capitals.
The visitors looked to be in control at 4-1 with 28 minutes on the clock but the home side fired five goals in just over 15 third-period minutes to stun Fife coach Todd Dutiaume and his squad.
They left Murrayfield after being on the end of a 6-4 defeat after looking as if they were on course for a weekend double after their 4-1 home win over Coventry Blaze in the Elite League on Saturday.
Earlier, Ryan Dingel opened the scoring on the power play unassisted after 18 minutes and Mathew Sisca doubled the advantage four minutes later after the first break.
Pavel Vorobyev pulled one back less than a minute later but two more strikes hit the home net before the second break. Chase Schaber made it 3-1 after 27 minutes and Sisca scored again 71 seconds later with Dingle involved in the build-up for both strikes.
Matt Tipoff scored a second after 42 minutes to breathe new life into Capitals.
Mason Wilgosh scored a third just over a minute later and Tipoff levelled at 4-4 after 47 minutes.
Worse was to follow for Flyers as Ian Schultz made it 5-4 after 55 minutes and Vorobyev scored an empty net goal after Fife gambled with withdrawing their netminder. Time: 57min 52sec.
Ex-Flyers assistant coach Danny Stewart celebrated last night after he guided Coventry Blaze to a 4-1 Elite League win over Dundee Stars in the Midlands to end a six-game losing streak.
The home side were 1-0 ahead after the first break, Brett Robinson scoring after 18 minutes.
The visitors were level only 45 seconds into the middle session when Vinny Scarsella netted after good work from Joey Sides and Felix Antoine Poulin.
Stars’ joy was short-lived as Matt Marquardt scored on the power play six minutes later and Robin Bergman slotted another power play strike just over a minute after that.
The final goal came from Garrett Klotz after 53 minutes in a game in which Dundee’s Mikael Lidhammar was given a game misconduct for checking from behind after 10 minutes of the final period.
Stars claimed a 4-1 win over Capitals in the Challenge Cup on Saturday.
Scott Brannon broke the deadlock after 12 minutes and just over a minute later it was 2-0 thanks to a power play strike from Justin Faryna.
Mason Wilgosh pulled one back after 33 minutes but a Joey Sides power play restored the two-goal cushion after 35 minutes and Sides claimed an empty net goal with eight seconds left.
Stewart’s team suffered a 4-1 legaue defeat on Saturday on his return to Fife, who confirmed defenceman David Turon will be sidelined for up to six weeks with a hand injury suffered in the Challenge Cup clash at Dundee.