Belfast Giants got the two road points they needed to stay three clear at the top of the Elite League, but they were made to work mighty hard for them against a Fife Flyers team that probably deserved something out of the game.

When Mike Lee ripped a shot from the point past a crowd of players and Shane Owen at 14:42, it threatened to be a long night for the league’s basement side against the EIHL leaders. That got worse when Tyler Heidt was assessed a double-minor for a high stick, but Fife hit back the other way. Massimo Carozza’s shot on Tom McCollum went straight through the five hole on the 16-minute mark toe tie the game shorthanded.

Belfast did make use of their extra skater with 1:52 left in the period thanks to JJ Piccinich getting on a loose puck in front of Owen to put the visitors back ahead.

Carozza tied the game 4:15 into period two, but the hosts were only able to stay on level terms for just over four minutes before Josh Roach turned quickly and backhanded past Owen at 28:28.

Fife remained dangerous for the remainder of the period, and the Giants had McCollum to thanks as Ben Brown lined up a one-timer across his slot with just over three minutes remaining in the period.

Scott Conway one-timed a perfect David Goodwin pass past Owen 5:25 into period three to put the Giants 4-2 ahead, but Charles-Antoine Paiement got the final touch on a loose puck to bring Fife back to within one at 46:57.

A penalty on Pierre-Olivier Morin with 3:30 to go gave the Flyers hope of an equaliser, and they called their timeout and pulled Owen with 1:45 to play to go with six skaters. McCollum did well to keep them out as pressure grew, and while Conway took a hooking minor with 25 seconds to play, the Giants held on for a vital two regulation points in their race for a league title.