Moyer believes special teams give top sides edge

ICE HOCKEY: Flyers looking for improvement on power plays

Russ Moyer believes the new-look Fife Flyers squad need to sharpen up on their special teams.

The 35-year-old Canadian defenceman feels, however, that Saturday’s 2-1 victory over play-off winners Sheffield Steelers proved the Kirkcaldy club can “man-up” to the best teams in the Elite League.

Flyers lost 5-3 to league champions Cardiff Devils 24 hours later but led 2-1 early on.

The former Sheffield player said: “Our power play was a little cold (against Devils) and it’s tough to get points when that happens.

“However, we were 2-1 up (after 18 minutes) and feeling good about ourselves but we ran out of gas towards the end.”

Moyer added: “Yes, it would have been good to get a four-point weekend but two points was not a terrible failure.”

Moyer feels Cardiff and Sheffield are leading clubs because they produce in crunch situations. He said: “A lot of the time it comes down to special teams.

“Our power play and penalty kill were rolling pretty well until this weekend. Now we realise we need to step that part of our game up and we know we can.

“We have the right people on this team which will, hopefully, bring us to the same level as those two clubs.”

Coach Todd Dutiaume and the squad switch attention to their home Challenge Cup Group B clash with leaders Belfast Giants on Saturday with assistant coach Jeff Hutchins still targeting top spot in the hope of gaining a better seeding in the knockout round.

Dundee Stars coach Omar Pacha saw enough from the four periods of play over the weekend to know his squad are moving in the right direction.

They lost 3-2 in overtime to Elite League newcomers Guildford Flames and Sunday’s return in England was abandoned because of the state of the ice with the scoreline at 2-2.

But the Canadian playcaller is still waiting for his men to find consistency.

Pacha said: “A few weeks ago we were not generating enough chances, now we are generating chances.

“However, we’ve not found a way to score and we’ll be working on our offence in training this week.”

Stars, who remain second bottom of the 12-strong Elite League table, host Belfast Giants on Friday (7.30pm) and entertain Manchester Storm, also in the league, on Saturday (7pm).