COVENTRY Blaze romped to a 7-2 win against Dundee Stars in the Elite League having secured their place in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals the previous night.
Blaze had seven different scorers in their win against Stars at the Skydome Arena after a 3-2 overtime defeat to Cardiff Devils at Ice Arena Wales was enough to secure a last eight place in the Challenge Cup.
The result leaves Blaze in third place in the Elite League standings.
Swedish forward Kim Tallberg opened the scoring against Dundee at 8.48 in Blaze’s traditional Halloween themed game.
And Johnny Curran doubled Blaze’s lead at 10.26 on the powerplay before Ross Venus added the home side’s third goal at 13.25.
Coventry rounded off a dominant first period when Peyton Frantti scored on the powerplay at 18.43
The rout continued when Mitch Cook made it five at 23.01, having already provided two assists, before Marly Quince bagged a sixth for Blaze at 24.54.
And Garrett Johnston completed the scoring for Blaze at 43.46 as Dundee eventually managed to break Paavo Holsa’s shut-out with goals from Benjamin Sokay at 53.58 and Craig Garrigan at 54.35.
Head Coach Danny Stewart said: “I was thrilled with our effort. I thought we carried through our urgency through 60 minutes.
“It was a shame we have up those two at the end as I thought Paavo deserved the shut-out but those things happen.”
That came after Blaze were edged out in overtime by Cardiff Devils in Wales despite Coventry taking the lead after just 13 seconds when Cook beat Taran Kozun in the Cardiff goal.
And defenceman David Clements then doubled Coventry’s lead at 8.30 to hand Blaze a two-goal advantage at the end of the first period.
Both teams missed chances in the second period before Josh Waller reduced the deficit at the death to set up a thrilling third period.
And Cardiff equalised at 43.09 through Marcus Crawford as Blaze did well to kill off further opportunities to take the game to overtime.
However, the Devils completed the turnaround when Waller grabbed his second of the game 3.48 into the extra period as Blaze came away with a point to secure a quarter-final place.
Coventry are next in action away at Dundee on Saturday, November 5 with the face-off at 7pm at Dundee Ice Arena.
Blaze return to their home ice against Glasgow Clan on Sunday, November 6 with the face-off at 5.30pm at the Skydome.
