Guildford Flames stayed in sixth place and moved four points clear of Coventry Blaze with a 4-0 shutout win on Sunday night.
“It feels great to get the shutout!” said goalie Justin Fazio. “The guys played great in front of me and it’s nice to get that one done.”
Coventry created the first real chance of the game early on, but Justin Fazio stood firm in the Guildford net to keep the score level. The Blaze also saw a coach’s challenge go against them in the opening period, but neither side was able to break the deadlock in a tightly contested first 20 minutes.
“Us having that goal waved off broke our hearts a little bit and shifted the momentum the other way,” said Blaze’s Jack Hopkins. “Not to blame it on that, but I think that was a big problem in tonight’s game for us.”
Guildford opened the scoring at 16:08 when sustained pressure in the offensive zone led to Sam Talbot’s shot being saved, with Josh Waller on hand to fire home the rebound for a 1-0 lead.
“Myself included, if we’d have put a few of those chances in during the first period we’d have got on the board,” added Hopkins. “It was a weird game, I don’t think we were terrible but now we need to move on to next weekend.”
The second period saw both sides trade chances, with Coventry unable to make the most of multiple powerplay opportunities as Fazio continued to impress. Guildford also came close to extending their lead, but strong defending and goaltending at both ends kept the game within one heading into the final period.
Coventry’s night was further complicated when Dershahn Stewart was forced to leave the game through injury, leading to an EIHL debut for Joel Bearman in goal.
Guildford capitalised late on, with Waller adding his second of the night with 2:29 remaining to double the Flames’ advantage.
The Flames added further gloss to the scoreline in the closing stages, with Jack Jacome redirecting Mathieu Gosselin’s pass into the net in the final seconds to complete the scoring in a four-goal victory.
“We came out flying right off the bat tonight,” added Fazio. “We’re all bought in. When we commit like that and block shots, it’s great to see. I’m allergic to shutouts – they got a 2-on-1 towards the end there and I was thinking ‘Oh no’, but Josh Waller came back with a good backcheck to get it to the end there.”
Photo: John Uwins
