The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze were beaten by a resilient Belfast Giants 3-5 at Skydome Arena in the Viaplay Elite League on Sunday.
The Giants arrived in Coventry without handful of imports and fell two behind early with Brit Nathan Ripley (7.12) and Canadian Colton Yellow Horn (11.58) scoring for Blaze.
The opening goal was Ripley’s first of the season while Yellow Horn moved up to nine goals and a team leading 23 points.
Coventry lost the momentum in the second period, however, and the depleted Giants fought back scoring two in quick succession through their man of the match Will Cullen (27.08) and Lewis Hook (28.45).
Swede Kim Tallberg put Blaze ahead again early in the third period with his 12th of the regular season by grabbing the puck out of mid-air, placing it and finishing neatly while tight in on the Belfast net.
Coventry then had an extended five-on-three opportunity but weren’t able to convert and Darik Angeli made them pay by tying the game again 3-3 at 48.36.
With less than ten minutes remaining Belfast were also awarded a near full 5-on-3 chance and unlike Coventry previously, they were able to convert through Steven Owre to give them their first lead of the night at 52.27.
Blaze pulled netminder Paavo Holsa for the extra skater with two minutes remaining and came within millimetres of scoring an equaliser but Tallberg couldn’t quite force home a puck which sat on the Giants’ line.
With 25 seconds to go, the game was over as Owre scored his second of the evening from his own defensive zone into the empty net for a final score of 3-5.
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