Fife Flyers 2 Sheffield Steelers 1 — after overtime
Sheffield Steelers suffered another overtime setback on Sunday night as Mika Partanen’s winner secured a 2-1 victory for Fife Flyers in Kirkcaldy.
Just 46 seconds into the extra period, Partanen struck to complete a weekend double for the Scottish side, leaving Aaron Fox’s men with two points from successive overtime defeats.
After Saturday’s controversial finish in Sheffield, the Steelers again found themselves on the wrong end of the same scoreline, despite Mikko Juusola cancelling out Victor Bjorkung’s first-period opener.
Matt Greenfield was central to Sheffield’s efforts, making 32 saves as Fife outshot the visitors 34-22. His performance earned him the Steelers’ man-of-the-match award, while match-winner Partanen took the honours for the Flyers.
In front of 1,995 supporters at Fife Ice Arena, Sheffield faced an early penalty when Greenfield was called for playing the puck outside the trapezoid after just 64 seconds.
The visitors survived that disadvantage, but Fife took the lead at 6:50 through Bjorkung, assisted by Max Coyle.
Tempers rose towards the end of the opening period. Dominic Cormier and Chase Dubois received matching roughing penalties at 18:05, before Macoy Erkamps and Flyers captain Garet Hunt were handed five-minute fighting penalties with 38 seconds remaining.
Sheffield went into the first break trailing, but needed only two minutes and one second of the middle period to draw level.
Juusola supplied the equaliser at 22:01, with Olivier Archambault and Sean Collins providing the assists, restoring parity and setting up another closely contested finish.
Neither side could find a further breakthrough in regulation. A hooking penalty against Joseph Pierce late in the second period gave Sheffield a powerplay spanning the interval, while Cole Stewart’s slashing penalty at 52:50 offered another opportunity in the closing stages.
The Steelers were unable to convert either chance, finishing without a goal from their two powerplays. Fife also failed to score on their sole powerplay opportunity.
Greenfield and opposite number Dominik Groh kept the score locked at 1-1 throughout the third period, sending the teams into overtime for the second successive night.
Once again, however, the extra period was brief.
Partanen scored at 60:46, assisted by Michael Drabek and Bjorkung, to settle the contest and secure the additional point for Fife.
For Sheffield, it was another frustrating finish: Juusola’s equaliser and Greenfield’s resistance had kept them in contention, but they left Scotland with one point as the Flyers celebrated a second overtime victory in as many nights.