The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze erased an early two goal deficit to beat the Guildford Flames 3-2 in the Elite League at Skydome Arena on Saturday.
Blaze were boosted by the return of British forward Jack Hopkins, but after an overnight trip back from Glasgow, took some time to grow into the game as the Flames took a 0-2 lead within ten minutes.
Guildford’s opener came on the first powerplay of the fixture as top-scorer Peter Crinella finished Brett Ferguson’s pass neatly for his 20th goal of the regular season at 2.47.
Productive British forward Lewis Hook then took advantage of a sleepy looking Coventry defence to fire past Taran Kozun and make it 0-2 at 9.26.
Blaze gained some life at 15.39 on the powerplay when former Flames’ forward Ian McNulty scored his 15th of the season via a rebound from a Kim Tallberg shot.
After Steven McParland was assessed a goaltender interference penalty on 26.08, Blaze took just ten seconds to tie the game through Johnny Curran with their second powerplay goal.
Blaze scored a third unanswered at 48.46 when defenceman Blake Thompson’s direct play was rewarded with a goal to make it 3-2.
Temperatures began to rise with 9.41 remaining as several players clashed behind the net of Kozun.
Flames came out of the clash with a powerplay, but the determined Blaze were able to kill it off.
Guildford pulled goalie Taz Burman for the extra skater in the final proceedings but Coventry and Kozun were able to see out a huge 3-2 victory.
Photo credit: Aimee Hollingsworth
