The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze stormed to a fifth consecutive Elite League victory with six unanswered goals, defeating the Manchester Storm 6-2 in Altrincham on Saturday night.
After sitting for the first penalty of the night, Jake Durflinger quickly made up for his early infraction by opening the scoring at 8.30. Durflinger’s close-range goal followed a clever reverse pass from Alexis D’Aoust which eluded Blaze keeper Mat Robson.
Just 33 seconds later, the Storm doubled their advantage when Joe Morrow’s shot from the blue line found its way into the net via a deflection off Grant Hebert’s stick.
Manchester had the puck in the net for a third time with 5.36 remaining in the opening period, but the goal was overturned after Blaze head coach Kevin Moore challenged for goaltender interference.
There was a penalty shot called on the play for an Alexander Kuqali hook prior to the goal, but D’Auost couldn’t beat Robson and the Blaze came out of the entire situation just two down.
Despite Storm’s strong penalty kill, holding off the Blaze’s league-leading power play three times, the away side finally broke through on their fourth attempt. Associate Captain Brandon Alderson scored his fourth power-play goal of the season to bring Coventry back into the game on 28-minutes.
Coventry found themselves level at 35.41 when Estonian international Morten Jurgens opened his competitive Blaze account with a precise finish from Jack Hopkins’ pass.
Coventry then took the lead at 38.23 when Jackson Cressey’s willingness to get to the front of the net was rewarded with the go-ahead strike, assisted by Alessio Luciani and Chase Gresock.
The Blaze extended their lead to 2-4 with 15.32 remaining when Grayson Constable found space in front of Evan Weninger’s net and fired past the Storm keeper.
Blaze struck again to make it 2-5 as Zack Heintz capitalised on a loose puck that slipped between a Storm defender’s skates, expertly beating Weninger in-close and marking his fourth consecutive league game with a goal.
The Blaze added a sixth goal in spectacular fashion. After dodging a big mid-ice hit, Nick Seitz completed a 3-on-1 rush while shorthanded, scoring at 49.59.
Frustrations mounted for the Storm in the game’s final stages, but the Blaze kept their composure and skated away with their fifth straight league win.
Photo credit: Mark Ferriss
