Fife Flyers report a clean bill of health ahead of this weekend’s back-to-back showdown with Scottish rivals Braehead Clan, which could make or break their play-off dreams.
The battling Kirkcaldy club emerged with four points thanks to a 6-2 victory over newly-crowned Elite League champions Belfast Giants and a penalty-shot success at Dundee Stars.
Bobby Chaumont’s leveller with less than 12 minutes left proved crucial on Sunday in Dundee.
Assistant coach Danny Stewart said: “We’ve got ourselves into this position and it is up to us to take it.”
Fife are ninth with 49 points from 50 games. Hull Stingrays occupy the final play-off place and have 50 points from 51 starts.
Stewart added: “Six weeks ago if you had said that we would be in this position then we would have taken it. The guys have battled hard and shown great character and going into the final weekend we can qualify for the play-offs if we get results.
“The great thing is that we don’t have to travel far and we can focus on one team, Braehead.”
Meanwhile, Stars player-coach Jeff Hutchins is determined to clinch third place in the league.
They complete their regular season programme against Edinburgh Capitals, one of Hutchins’ former teams, with the first match in Dundee on Saturday followed by the return at Murrayfield on Sunday.
The playcaller said: “There is always a chance that Edinburgh can beat us and we don’t want that. If we can play our own game then we could win both fixtures and secure third place which would be fantastic for the club.”
Hutchins, who netted twice against Fife, said: “Fife were fighting for play-off points and they wanted it more than we did. We were playing with four defencemen and by doing that we gave up lots of shots.”