Jake Coughler, Jack Jacome and Ethan Strang with an empty netter, found the mark in the 3rd period to break up a 1-1 tie and set Flames to a 4-1 League table opening win over Fife Flyers on Spectrum ice.
An early Ryan Tait goal was erased after video review, but he gained it back on a powerplay a little over 3 minutes from period time to send the home team to break with a lead.
Flames began the 2nd with a 5 on 3 manpower advantage but couldn’t extend their margin before Fife squared it near the midway point through Michael Cichy to set up a winner take all 3rd.
In the 44th minute, Coughler nudged Flames back in front with what turned into the winner, and newcomer Jacome bought the insurance strike at 48:26. A little over 2 minutes from time, Flyers removed Shane Owen to add an extra skater but Strang foiled the plan when he closed out the evening’s scoring.
Jake Kupsky turned away 23 of 24 shots while Shane Owen at Fife's end was 31 of 34.
“I thought both teams felt it out in the 1st period a bit and it would have been nice to have had a bigger lead in a situation like where we did manage to score first,” said Paul Dixon.
“Fife had some real pushback in the 2nd that we struggled to handle for a stretch. We could have fallen behind during that window, but Jake made some good saves and we managed hang on and wait for a turnaround. I liked how we recovered in the 3rd period to put away some chances and come out with an important win.”
“It’s great to get off the mark immediately in league play and we can go into a week of training with confidence as we get ready for Coventry and Cardiff next weekend.”
