Fife Flyers beat Belfast Giants 3-2 on Wednesday to strengthen their hold on second place in Challenge Cup Group B and hand Belfast only their third defeat of the season. Fife goaltender Blake Pietilä called it a “gritty, gutsy win” and said the team’s third period was its best.
Fife opened the scoring shorthanded at 12:52 in the first period, when Cole Stewart put away his own rebound. Mika Partanen made it 2-0 at 26:24, finishing a pass from Michal Drábek after the Flyers killed a penalty. Belfast replied through Scott Conway, set up by David Goodwin during a Fife penalty kill.
Mike Petizian restored Fife’s two-goal lead early in the third, with Partanen providing the pass. Morten Jensen cut the deficit to 3-2 at 52:01 after Nicolas Guay forced a turnover. Belfast pressed for an equaliser late on, but could not seriously test Pietilä, and Fife held on. Pietilä said beating Belfast at home in front of the fans gave the team momentum.