COVENTRY Blaze lifted themselves off the bottom of the Elite League table following the club’s first four-point-weekend in a month.
Blaze’s luckless run of form ended as the firstly defeated Manchester Storm 2-0 on Saturday, before putting six past the northern outfit in a return fixture at the Skydome on Sunday.
Eight goals and conceding just two proved vital for Danny Stewart’s men who two weeks ago were said to have hit ‘rock bottom’ by the Blaze coach after three successive defeats in Scotland.
However the former Blaze skater turned coach was delighted with his side’s performance and praised netminder Brian Stewart, who made a host of excellent saves.
Jim Jorgensen opened Coventry’s account after just 30 seconds when referee Stephan Hogarth pointed to the net signalling a goal had been scored, despite no immediate celebration from the home players or crowd.
Manchester responded just 10 minutes later though as Mario V-Trabucco slammed home a one-timer to bring both sides level.
New recruit Ben Davies put the Blaze ahead once again shortly into the second period as he batted home a loose puck from close range.
Skipper Jordan Pietrus dropped the gloves with Manchester’s Darian Dziurzynski after the Blaze forward shot a puck at the Storm’s netminder after the whistle had been blown.
Pietrus’ efforts seemed to inspire the Blaze as Barry Almeida converted his chance just moments later to extend Coventry’s lead to two goals.
Josh Godfrey continued his impressive run of form to bag Blaze a fourth goal ten minutes before the final buzzer, though any thoughts of the result being settled were washed away when Cody Carter earned the visitors their second marker of the night.
Kevin Noble then put the result beyond any doubt with an empty goal struck from the defensive zone just minutes from time, netminder Brian Stewart earned a rare assist.
Star forward Liam Stewart then rubbed salt into Manchester’s wound with a close range marker at 59.09.
Post-game, Danny Stewart said: “I’m very happy with the weekend and it was good to see the offence kick in.
“Stewy (Brian Stewart) kept us in the game in the first period, we were way too loose at times but in general we had lots of puck luck.
“For some reason Manchester missed two sitters at the back door but we can take huge positives from this weekend.
“Our penalty kill was unbelievable and we looked more threatening with the puck.”
