The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze were beaten 5-2 at SSE Arena by Belfast Giants in the Elite League on Saturday.
Coventry travelled across the Irish sea without British pair Nathan Ripley and Archie Hazeldine, while Canadian Mitch Cook remained out of the line-up through injury. Nolan Kent got the start in net for Blaze with Tyler Beskorowany his opposite number after representing Team Canada in the Spengler Cup.
On a special Pride Night, celebrating inclusivity and diversity in our sport, the Giants took an early lead through former Blaze forward Ben Lake who beat Kent from a Greg Printz feed at 1.08.
Coventry tied the game at 7.02 when Ian McNulty’s pass out in front of Beskorowany hit Sean Norris’ skate and Kobe Roth was able to take advantage for his team leading 17th goal of the regular season.
The first period ended with 1.18 remaining on the clock after Blaze forward Jack Hopkins took a heavy fall to the ice and had to receive medical attention.
After Hopkins was helped from ice and taken to the hospital for assessment, play resumed and the Giants took a 2-1 lead when defenceman Josh Roach fired past Kent at 32.02.
With 30 seconds remaining in the second, Blaze Captain Brady Norrish found Ian McNulty who beat Beskorowany one-on-one to tie the game again.
With 7.16 remaining, Belfast took their third lead of the night when mid-season addition Bobby MacIntyre took advantage of a delayed penalty to make it a 3-2 game.
Snake bitten forward Daniel Tedesco then ended a run of seven games without a goal to score his fifth of the regular season at 54.03. High in confidence, his sixth and second on the night shortly followed to wrap up the scoring and 5-2 score line at 57.41.
Photo credit: William Cherry
