ROSS Venus’s overtime goal helped Coventry Blaze to a four-point weekend as Danny Stewart’s side beat title-chasing Sheffield Steelers home and away.
Venus clinched a deserved 4-3 victory for Blaze after Mitch Cook, Nate Halbert and Kim Tallberg all struck at the Skydome Arena.
And that came after Blaze won 5-3 at Utilita Arena Sheffield with two last-minute goals as Tallberg scored twice with Marly Quince, Johnny Curran and Peyton Frantti all on target.
The results mean Blaze remain fifth in the Elite League table with their place in the end of season play-offs confirmed.
At the Skydome, Blaze scored twice on the powerplay through Cook at 10.59 and Halbert at 16.46 either side of Brendan Connolly’s goal for Sheffield.
And Tallberg continued his fine season with his 23rd goal of the season at 25.16 before Martin Latal and Scott Allen both struck to take the game to overtime.
However, Venus sealed the win for Blaze when he finished past Steelers goalie Matthew Greenfield at 62.59 on a one-on-one breakaway.
Head Coach Stewart said: “It was an entertaining game and we got everything that we deserved tonight.
“We challenged the guys to find that next level this weekend and the willingness to do it on back-to-back games against a very good team was good to see.”
That came after Blaze claimed a thrilling win in Sheffield as Steelers’ Tomas Pitule opened the scoring at 11.53 only for Quince to equalise for Blaze at 13.29 on the powerplay.
Sheffield took the lead for a second time through Calle Ackered at 41.43 as Blaze levelled for a second time when Tallberg struck at 43.34.
And Blaze completed the turnaround when Curran scored at 44.47 from a one-on-one opportunity only for Steelers to level through Matt Petgrave at 52.55.
However, Frantti scored on the powerplay with 28 seconds remaining before Tallberg wrapped up the win with two seconds left to play.
Blaze face Belfast Giants in an away double-header with the face-off at 7pm on Saturday, March 4 and 4pm on Sunday, March 5 at SSE Arena Belfast.
