The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze extended their winning streak to five games with a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Panthers at Skydome Arena on Sunday.
The first period was an even affair with both sides keeping things tight defensively and netminders Nolan Kent for Coventry and Rok Stojanovic for Nottingham starting the game strongly.
It took until 35.41 for the first goal of the game to come and it was a first in the Elite League for American Aidan Spellacy who joined the club a month ago.
Just a few minutes later Danny Kristo registered on the powerplay for his league leading 21st point of the season which turned out to be the game-winning-goal.
In his first league start at Skydome Arena, Blaze man of the match Kent frustrated the Panthers up until 52.52 when he was finally beaten by Jake Ryczek to make it 2-1.
The Panthers called a time-out at 58.14 and pulled Stojanovic for the extra skater, but their hopes of tying the game were short-lived when Ian McNulty converted for Blaze into the empty net at 58.36.
Tempers flared between the local rivals as the clock ticked down, but the Blaze and 46-save Kent were to stand up to anything the Panthers had to throw at them to take a 3-1 win and move up to fourth in the Elite League table.
Photo credit: Scott Wiggins
