On the approach to the 3rd period’s midway mark, Morgan Clarke-Pizzo’s first Elite League goal and first in Flames wear turned out to be the winner as the Flames added a late empty netter to complete a weekend sweep over Fife Flyers with a 5-3 home win.
A 10:57 powerplay goal by Brett Ferguson had Flames in a 1st period lead, but an 18th minute Bari McKenzie reply closed the opening frame with the teams knotted at a goal each.
A late 1st period penalty to Flyers then another at the final buzzer put Flames to a 5 on 3 manpower advantage to start the middle set but Flames couldn’t take advantage and they continued tied at 1. Flyers did step in front when Jan Kloz scored their 2nd at 33:15, but a pair of quick Flames goals inside the last minute by Robert Lachowicz at 39:28 then Ryan Tait 17 seconds later set the home team to a lead to start the 3rd.
Just 18 seconds into that final set Flyers pulled even again through Shawn Cameron, but a few minutes later Flames re-gained the advantage with Clarke-Pizzo’s decider and 73 seconds from the end, Johan Eriksson found the empty cage to guarantee the result.
Eamon McAdam turned aside 22 of 25 shots, while Shane Owen was good on 38 of 42 that went his way.
“That was a back and forth game by a couple of teams who had stretches of looking energetic and other times looking a little sluggish,” admitted Paul Dixon.
“On occasions you could see that both teams were maybe a little travel weary, but on balance I thought we had good portions of the play and certainly had enough puck possession to be good for a win.”
“It was pretty exciting to see Morgan (Clarke-Pizzo) not only get his first goal with us, but have it turn into the winner which is a moment he is not likely to forget.”
“We don’t have too many complaints about a weekend sweep with all 4 points, but not a lot of celebration time as we get ready for 3 in 4 nights next week starting on Thursday with a visit to Sheffield.”
