The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze were beaten 5-0 on the road against Cardiff Devils in the Challenge Cup on Friday night.
Brandon Alderson was first to beat former Devil Taran Kozun in the Blaze net at 4.41 on the powerplay, finishing on a one-timer from Jamie Arniel.
Alderson, a high scorer in Germany over the past two seasons was making his Devils debut after signing last week.
Blaze were heavily outshot 17-7 in the opening 20 minutes, but Great Britain International Ben Bowns was forced to make a couple of important saves for Cardiff including a breakaway stop on Kobe Roth with just seconds remaining in the period.
Early in the second, Riley Brandt blocked a Blaze shot and his effort was rewarded as the chased the puck into the Coventry zone and finished past Kozun on the breakaway to give Cardiff a 2-0 lead at 22.17.
It got worse for the visitors at 29.51 when Cody Donaghey scored to make it 3-0 which was his second point of four on the evening.
Devils again outshot Blaze in the second with Kozun facing another 17 shots and Bowns 10.
Trevor Cox made it 4-0 at 44.31 with a tip-in before Tyler Busch’s powerplay effort at 48.29 wrapped up the scoring 5-0 and gave Cardiff the two points in the Challenge Cup group.
Bowns recorded a 23 save shut-out and was awarded the Man of the Match award for the Devils. Cardiff were two for four on the powerplay and outshot Blaze 43-23 overall.
Photo credit: James Assinder
