The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze took a point from a 4-3 penalty-shots defeat to the Belfast Giants at the SSE Arena.
The Blaze roster was boosted by the debut of American forward Adam Robbins, but they continued to be without stand-out goalie Mat Robson and influential forward pair Grayson Constable and Alessio Luciani.
Coventry made the perfect start, scoring after just 43 seconds when Jack Hopkins found Matthew Gleason out in front of the net of Alexis Gravel, and he finished expertly past the Giants goalie.
The Blaze lead didn’t last long, though, as at 3.30 Jake Gaudet found the puck in a scramble to beat Dershahn Stewart, with the assist going to Nicolas Guay.
Belfast then thought they had gone in front just ahead of the seven-minute mark, but the effort was waved off following a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference.
Blaze had to be strong on the penalty-kill to keep the score level going into the first intermission following a too many men call and a double-minor high-sticking penalty to Colton Saucerman, but they held firm.
Forty-two seconds after the midway point, Blaze were punished by the Giants powerplay as Guay hammered home a shot from JJ Piccinich, which slammed off the inner metal and back out again. The goal was awarded following a video review.
Blaze were level again at 34.51 when Elijah Barriga capitalised on a Belfast turnover to score while falling against his former side and make it 2-2.
With Guay called for tripping, the Blaze used their powerplay, which is beginning to find life again after a miserable spell, to make it 2-3 at the end of two periods. Gleason bagged his second, scoring from his own rebound after being found well by William Boysen.
Blaze’s defensive game in the third period was outstanding, shutting down the high-octane Giants offence to maintain their lead.
However, Belfast pulled the goalie for the extra skater with two minutes remaining, and with just 18 seconds left Jordan Kawaguchi found the game-tying goal to send the fixture to overtime.
Both sides had chances in the additional period, but a penalty shoot-out was required to settle it.
Patrick Grasso and Piccinich were the only successful players in the shoot-out as the Giants collected the additional point with a 4-3 victory.
Photo credit: William Cherry
