COVENTRY Blaze maintained their perfect start to the Elite League season with a narrow 3-2 win against Fife Flyers.
Blaze went ahead through Brady Norrish before Marly Quince doubled the home side’s lead and Colton Yellow Horn secured the points at the Skydome Arena.
Coventry lead the Elite League standings by two points ahead of Cardiff Devils who have a game in hand.
Blaze started the better of the two teams and were rewarded at 18.40 when defenceman Norrish opened the scoring.
And Quince then continued his fine start to the campaign with a goal at 36.54 on the powerplay to double Blaze’s lead from captain Nate Halbert’s pass.
However, Fife responded at 37.24 when former Blaze man Janne Kivilahti scored on his return to the Skydome having joined the Scottish side in the summer.
The game-winning goal came from Colton Yellow Horn at 50.20 with a backdoor strike on the powerplay as the 35-year-old grabbed his third goal of the season in just four league matches assisted by Halbert.
Flyers struck again through Kivilahti at 59.53 as Blaze held on in the final seconds to secure a fourth successive win in the Elite League.
However, Blaze suffered their first defeat of the season the previous night after they were beaten 3-2 by Guildford Flames in overtime in a dramatic Challenge Cup tie.
Johan Eriksson gave the home side the lead at 2.58 before Blaze levelled through Quince at 3.54 on the powerplay.
Several powerplay chances came and went for Blaze before Guildford’s Ian McNulty restored the home side’s lead at 51.55 on the man advantage.
However, Coventry equalised with just four seconds left to play when Kim Tallberg found the net to earn the visitors a point and send the game into overtime having pulled goalie Paavo Holsa for an extra skater.
Guildford had an overtime goal ruled out after an extended review before Bradley Lalonde blasted home with just eight seconds remaining.
Blaze are next in action against Cardiff on Thursday, September 29 in the Challenge Cup with the face-off at 7.30pm at the Skydome Arena.
