The Manchester Storm extended their winning streak to four games with a hard fought 2-1 sudden death penalty shots victory over the Genting Casino Coventry Blaze.
The only goal of the opening period came after just 26 seconds when former NHLer Joe McMorrow shot past Taran Kozun to give the in-form home side a perfect start.
Coventry found themselves in the penalty box twice, which contributed to them being outshot 13-3 through the first twenty-minutes.
Blaze began the second period well and tied the game through Danny Kristo who took advantage of a Storm turnover to beat Evan Weninger in-close at 23.56.
The goal gave Coventry confidence and Mitch Cook had a one-on-one opportunity to give the visitors a lead ahead of the half-way mark, but Weninger was equal to it.
The Storm goal was kept busy by the Blaze as the second ended with the score tied at 1-1 at the shot count 18-15.
Both teams had a chance to win the game on the powerplay in the final period, and Blaze took a man advantage into overtime but couldn’t convert.
With each side’s goalie in top form, no further goals were scored until a dramatic sudden death shoot-out.
Tyler Hinam was fortunate to give Manchester the lead in the third round of the shoot-out, beating Kozun despite his stick breaking on the shot.
Johnny Curran tied things for Blaze with the high-pressured final shot, but Zack Phillips won the game 2-1 for Storm with the first attempt in sudden death overtime.
Photo credit: Mark Ferris
