The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze wrapped up their 2022/23 Viaplay Elite League campaign with a 4-2 victory over Cardiff Devils at Skydome Arena on Saturday.
Coventry had already secured fifth place in the standings, and the win meant they will face the same opposition in the Viaplay quarter-finals next weekend as the Devils can no longer catch the Sheffield Steelers in their final fixture and so will finish fourth.
Blaze were forced to kill two penalties in the opening period, and were thankful to have netminder Paavo Holsa in fine form. The Finn started ahead of Miklós Rajna and with defenceman Alexander Kuqali also returning to the line-up following injury, forward Jack Billings sat out.
Further minor penalties were called ahead of the half-way mark but with neither team able to capitalise on the powerplay, it took until 32.54 for the deadlock to be broken.
The goal came from Blaze’s J.D. Dudek who collected a pass from Nathan Ripley and skated almost the full length of the ice before shooting past Great Britain International Ben Bowns in the Devils net.
Coventry’s second quickly followed as Alex Forbes’ shot from the blue-line found its way through Bowns for 2-0 at 34.04.
Tyler Kirkup made it three for Blaze at 43.42 with Man of the Match Dudek collecting his second point of the night with an assist.
Kirkup then bagged a second goal with a heavy shot while short-handed with 5.57 remaining to make it 4-0.
Devils scored a couple of consolation goals in the final couple of minutes through Cole Sanford (58.36) and Chad Pietroniro (59.08) but it wasn’t enough as Blaze celebrated a final night win in front of a large and boisterous crowd at Skydome Arena.
The Viaplay quarter-final first-leg will take place at Skydome Arena on Saturday 8th April (7pm) with the second-leg the following day in Cardiff (6pm).
British forward Ross Venus confirmed his decision to depart the club following 12 consecutive seasons earlier in the week, and the first-leg encounter will be his final game for Coventry at Skydome Arena.
Tickets are on sale with full information via the link below.
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