COVENTRY Blaze suffered back-to-back defeats against reigning Elite League champions Belfast Giants which included a 7-0 drubbing in Northern Ireland.
Blaze fared better on home ice as they were edged out 5-4 in the final period at the Skydome Arena to suffer their third defeat of the season.
The results leave Blaze in third place in the Elite League table, three points behind joint leaders Sheffield Steelers and Guildford Flames.
Despite the final scoreline, Blaze spurned several golden opportunities to take the lead at the SSE Arena in Belfast and were unable to find a way past Jackson Whistle in the Giants goal.
Gabe Best opened the scoring for the home side converting from a David Goodwin cross-ice pass at 8.57 and from then on the Giants took over.
The outstanding Scott Conway scored next at 9.41 with the highlight goal of the night before Mark Cooper made it 3-0 at 12.23.
With all of the momentum, Belfast continued their barrage on Paavo Holsa’s goal and scored two more in quick concession before the first period was done.
Former Blaze forward Ben Lake scored at 15.18 and Tyler Soy at 15.36 to make it 5-0 and the game was all but over.
Conway bagged his second at 41.55 and Goodwin wrapped up the scoring at 58.31 on the powerplay.
And Blaze were denied on home ice the following day as they surrendered a three-goal lead to suffer a 5-4 defeat at the Skydome.
Blaze took the lead after just 32 seconds through Peyton Frantti before Mark Cooper equalised at 2.51.
Johnny Curran quickly restored the home side’s advantage with an incisive finish past Peyton Jones at 3.10.
As the opening period wound down, Ross Venus deflected the puck into the net for his second goal of the weekend to extend Blaze’s lead to 3-1 at 19.46.
With Whistle replacing Jones in the Belfast goal to start the second period, Mitch Cook netted Coventry’s fourth goal on a five-on-three powerplay to put the Blaze 4-1 up at 30.31.
A pivotal moment of the game came with 11 seconds remaining in the second period as Ciaran Long one-timed Matt Foley’s pass behind Holsa to bring the Giants back to within two.
The goal gave Belfast renewed confidence and the comeback was on when Chad Butcher scored their third goal at 42.42, just six seconds into a powerplay.
A mere 24 seconds later, Captain David Goodwin equalised as Holsa went to recover a puck from behind his net which hit the stanchion behind his goal and bounced out front for an empty net.
Coventry were forced to kill three late penalties and with just a second remaining on the final powerplay, the Giants scored the game-winning-goal through Colby McAuley to suck the life out of the Skydome and take home the two Elite League points.
