Flames fell behind midway through the 2nd, but rallied with 4 straight before another Clan reply to take a lead they would never relinquish for a 6-3 win over the visitors from Glasgow.
Inside the last 60 seconds of the opening frame, Ryan Hughes put Flames in front with the only goal of the set.
In the 27th minute, Clan put a 5 on 3 powerplay to good use when Luke Lynch tipped a goal home that survived video review for a high stick to bring the teams level at a goal each. Former Flame Jake Bolton gave them their first lead before the game was halfway through, but Hughes’ 2nd of the evening at 37:39 and a Matt Tugnutt re-direct 3 seconds from period time allowed the home team to start the 3rd a goal in front.
About 8 minutes to close, Flames got some insurance from Matt Alvaro. Ryan extended when he netted at 54:13 on the powerplay. Philippe Sanche pulled it a bit closer but with the Flames playing 4 men to 6 killing a penalty and Clan playing with an empty net, Tait buried the freebie to complete the final count.
“From a standings perspective we are already locked into 5th place and a playoff pairing with Manchester, but the message for our guys was we want to be playing good hockey and every game matters for different reasons,” explained Paul Dixon.
“Standings might not have been a factor for us, but tonight was important as is tomorrow. I thought we did a great job against a team who is fighting for their playoff lives and it was great to get a home win ahead of next weekend’s playoff quarter final.”
“We want to do the same at Coventry tomorrow night and we are looking forward to getting there and working to get a result to close out the league portion of the schedule.”
