COVENTRY, UK – Coventry Blaze overcame an impressive Edinburgh Capitals side on Sunday to maintain a three point lead at the top of the Elite League.
The Blaze have lost a little momentum in the last week or so. After losing to 2nd placed Belfast Giants last Saturday they stepped up their game to demolish bitter rivals Sheffield Steelers 5-1 at home. However they lost to Cardiff in midweek in an ill-tempered match that saw Derek Campbell and Brad Cruikshank pick up suspensions, and followed that with a demoralising 7-2 defeat to the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday.
In contrast, their nearest rivals for the Elite title Belfast Giants won both of their encounters this weekend, as they edged out Sheffield Steelers 5-4 on Friday before grabbing a 6-5 victory, again against the Steelers, on Saturday. This cut Coventry’s lead at the table to just one point, though the Giants had played two extra games.
These results meant that the Blaze knew that a victory was essential against 5th placed Edinburgh to re-establish their lead at the top, and their start to the game reflected this. They went 2-0 up in the opening minute with their first two attacks, and it looked like they might run away with it. However the Caps fought their way back into the game and probably had the best of the rest of the period, managing to pull a goal back to make it 2-1 after one period.
Towards the end of the second period the Blaze looked to be coasting again at 4-2 up, when Jeff Hutchins scored to get the Capitals back into the game from centre ice. The unsuspecting Peter Hirsch in net for Coventry was screened all the way by his own defenceman Brian Lee, and Hutchins’ slapshot flew past him to give Edinburgh hope.
That hope seemed to be extinguished in the third as Blaze extended their lead to 5-3, but the spirited Capitals don’t know when to quit and pulled the score back to 5-4, before equalising with an awkward deflected shot with just 30 seconds left to play. The Edinburgh goalie Cody Rudkowsky was in supreme form, and kept his team in it with several top notch saves.
In the end the Blaze were saved by sniper Luke Fulghum. After both teams had taken penalties early in overtime, the talented forward collected the puck before unleashing an unstoppable wrist-shot beyond Rudkowsky to seal the points.
With that victory the Blaze moved three points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand (and nine games left to play). If they can regain their form and stay solid for those nine games, they stand a great chance of bringing the title back to Coventry.
Contact the author dave.lambert@prohockeynews.com
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