Fife hit Capitals for six to close gap on Giants

Flyers join third-placed Belfast on 62 points in Elite League

FIFE FLYERS 6 EDINBURGH CAPITALS 1

Flyers last night snapped a three-game losing streak with an emphatic win over Elite League bottom markers Edinburgh.

The fired-up Fifers romped to a 6-1 win with Peter LeBlanc netting a treble and James Isaacs, Ricards Birzins and Chase Schaber adding singles.

Dylan Anderson claimed Capitals’ only strike but they were 5-0 down at the time and with no hope of adding to their meagre total of five wins in regulation all season.

Fife move on to 62 points from 47 games, the same points as third-placed Belfast Giants, who have played one game more but have won more games in regulation time.

Schaber opened the scoring after four minutes and LeBlanc added the second 14 minutes later.

LeBlanc scored his second and Fife’s third after 31 minutes and Isaacs made it 4-0 less than two minutes after.

Birzins added to the total 19 seconds after that but Anderson reduced the deficit two minutes into the third, and razor-sharp LeBlanc completed the scoring eight minutes later.

Meanwhile, Dundee Stars dug deep last night to prise out a valuable 4-3 victory at Nottingham Panthers thanks to a double from Brian Hart.

Home-bred Jordan Cownie netted the crucial game-winner after 46 minutes and Panthers gambled by withdrawing their netminder to have six skaters in the later stages.

Zack Phillips scored with 59 seconds left but it was too little too late and Omar Pacha’s gutsy squad claimed their third straight win and now move on to 44 points from 48 games.

They have closed the gap on ninthplaced Coventry Blaze to a point and have two games in hand. And they are also a point behind Braehead Clan, who have played a game more, as the three sides chase the final play-off place.

Stars went ahead after six minutes through Hart and held a 3-0 lead after 31 minutes with further goals from Adam Harding and Hart again.

A double from Panthers after 35 and 44 minutes put real pressure on the visitors but Cownie’s strike, with Gabriel Levesque and Marc-Olivier Mimar assisting, was key.

Alexander Mokshantsev opened Nottingham’s account and Jeff Brown’s second counter set up a grandstand finish but Stars held firm to boost their play-off hopes.