Canadian hit-man Kevin Saurette has ended Fife Flyers’ dream of making the Elite League play-off final.
The 33-year-old from Winnipeg slotted home 13 minutes from time in a tight tussle at Nottingham.
Saurette’s quick shot from the right circle following a pass from Evan Cheverie surprised Fife Flyers’ man of the match Kevin Regan at 47.42.
Belfast Giants, the newly-crowned Elite League champions, face Sheffield Steelers in the final after they beat Glasgow-based Braehead Clan 3-2 in the day’s second semi.Todd Dutiaume, Fife’s head coach, said: “We only lost by an innocuous shot to the best team in Britain. The guys should be proud of what they have achieved here and the whole experience has been tremendous for the young guys in our team.”Flyers had piled on the pressure as the clock ticked down and the Kirkcaldy club called a time out with less than two minutes to go.
But they failed to beat Giants’ Dundee-born netminder Stephen Murphy, who dealt with 24 shots as opposed to Regan who had 34 to deal with.
Underdogs Flyers started well and their top points gatherer Jordan Fulton forced Murphy into a smart save.
Giants killed off a Darryl Lloyd interference penalty early on with Evan Cheverie going close despite the Irish side being a man down.
A checking to the head call on David Phillips and an interference penalty on Kyle Haines gave both sides a powerplay chance in the latter stages of the period but no one could find the net.
The game remained deadlocked after the opening session but Giants had the edge in the early stages of the second period with Robby Sandrock going close.
Flyers, however, started to apply pressure as the middle session wore on and both Fulton and former Braehead star Bobby Chaumont had chances.
Later, Giants’ Jeffrey Szwez was denied by a brilliant Regan save and Flyers miraculously survived a scramble right in front of their own goal.
The third period was tight until Saurette’s strike but the game opened up after that with Fife’s associate player/coach Danny Stewart missing a sharp chance.
Flyers’ Fulton shot wide on a great opportunity with five minutes and after Regan was withdrawn to give Fife six skaters the Scots laid siege on Murphy’s net.