The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze continued their recent good form with a hard-fought 3-4 overtime victory over Cardiff Devils at Ice Arena Wales on Saturday.
Blaze coach Danny Stewart named an unchanged line-up for a third game in a row which meant Hungarian International Miklós Rajna got the start in net and Colton Yellow Horn remained side-lined.
Seeking to bounce back from a disappointing mid-week defeat to Manchester Storm, the Devils began strong and took a lead at 10.42 through Justin Crandall.
Coventry’s Man of the Match Tyler Kirkup tied things with his third goal in as many games since joining the club with Rajna ahead of the recent signing deadline.
The Devils have struggled in recent games on their powerplay which has seen them fall to ninth in the league on the man advantage, but they managed to break their duck on 22.57 as Josh Waller scored on a rebound to make it 2-1.
Just before the half-way mark, Johnny Curran and Peyton Frantti had a two on one opportunity but they weren’t able to convert past Ben Bowns who got the nod in Cardiff’s goal ahead of Taran Kozun.
The Blaze were level shortly after when Jack Billings tipped home a Garrett Johnston shot at 31.05 to tie the score 2-2.
Both teams increased their physicality as they second period dwindled down but no more goals were scored through 40 minutes.
With a team leading 62nd point of the season Trevor Cox made it 3-2 on 43.02 but Blaze again hit back through Mitch Cook’s 17th goal of the campaign at 46.08.
Tempers continued to flare late into the game and with 7.24 remaining Coventry’s Marly Quince dropped the gloves with Cardiff’s Chad Pietroniro.
The score remained 3-3 through 60 minutes and with each side pocketing a point, the game went to sudden death overtime.
Cox missed the net on a one-on-one before Blaze found a winner with Johnny Curran feeding Brady Norrish who beat Bowns with 1.17 left of the extra period.
With victory, Coventry made it three wins in a row and seven from their last ten games.
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