COVENTRY Blaze have moved up to fifth in the Elite Ice Hockey League following a four-point weekend in Scotland.
Danny Stewart’s men followed up Saturday’s narrow 2-1 victory at Dundee Stars with an 8-6 win against Glasgow Clan in a tantalising spectacle for the neutral.
In Sunday’s encounter with the then league leaders, Matt Maywood (1.55) gave the hosts a perfect start to begin the scoring, though Luke Ferrara (8.09) levelled from Chris Pohlkamp’s initial effort.
Glasgow regained the lead when Mathieu Roy (11.21) got the better of Blaze netminder Jamie Phillips, but again Blaze hit back immediately through Evan Bloodoff (13.24).
Roy was fortunate to find the net a second time when his shot made its way into the net via Phillips’ leg pads, while Mikael Lidhammar (19.59) struck a fourth just a second before the end of the period.
Blaze regrouped and sought to make amends for their downfall towards the end of the first period, pulling a goal back through Andrew Johnston (21.23) after he received from Janne Laakkonen.
The game was tied for a third time when Dillon Lawrence (25.57) fired a loose puck home, with parity remaining for all of two minutes before the hosts went back in front after Rasmus Bjerrum’s (27.23) strike.
A period of no scoring ensued for the next 25 minutes until Ross Venus (53.44) smashed home the tenth of the night to level the scores at 5-5 – a goal which prompted a dramatic end to the game.
Blaze had the lead for the first time when Johnston (54.05) swiped a shot into the net for his second of the night, backed up by Johnny Curran’s (55.39) goal over a minute later which proved the match winner.
Roy (56.44) claimed his hat-trick to put the Clan back in the game, a goal immediately wiped out by a second from Ferrara (56.51) seconds later.
Bloodoff claimed a landmark goal for Coventry with the opener in Dundee on Saturday night, chalking up the 5,000th goal in the club’s history on the powerplay at 7.53.
Kevin Dufour levelled for the hosts on 29.30, the only time Phillips was beaten from the 31 attempts on his goal, before Alex Forbes scored the winner in his home country on 48.28.
Blaze host Guildford Flames on Thursday night (7.30pm) in the Challenge Cup, before a trip to Sheffield Steelers on Saturday (7pm) and another home tie against Nottingham Panthers on Sunday (5.30pm).
