The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze were beaten 2-5 by Sheffield Steelers in the Elite League at Skydome Arena on Sunday.
Taran Kozun got the nod in net for Coventry after Nolan Kent registered his first professional win in Glasgow the night before. Sheffield came into the fixture well rested after having Saturday night off, and focussed on taking advantage of a Blaze side who arrived home in the early hours.
Blaze held their own in the early going but when Brett Neumann gave Sheffield the lead at 13.08, things quickly snowballed. The Steelers doubled their advantage on the powerplay when Robert Dowd’s shot snuck through Kozun with 3.59 left in the opening period.
The momentum remained with Sheffield in the second and at 24.14 centreman Mark Simpson beat Kozun short side to give the home side a mountain to climb.
Things got even worse for Blaze at 35.01 when Robert Dowd scored his first of two on the rebound from a Daniel Ciampini shot.
Danny Kristo finally got Blaze on the board at 48.56 and his strike against his former team gave the home side some life going into the final ten minutes.
The deficit was cut to two at 53.53 as Kobe Roth scored with the primary assist going to September’s Player of the Month Ian McNulty.
Kozun was pulled at 56.26 for the extra attacker, but the Steelers only needed 11 seconds to find the empty net and wrap up the scoring 2-5.
