DANNY Kristo scored a brace as Coventry Blaze beat Dundee Stars 5-2 on the road to avenge their home defeat against the Scottish side the previous night.
Kristo completed the scoring after doubling Blaze’s lead at Dundee Ice Arena while Kobe Roth, Alessio Luciani and Ian McNulty all found the net in Scotland.
That came after Blaze lost 5-3 to Dundee at the Skydome Arena as goals from Luciani, Roth and Kim Tallberg proved in vain as the Scottish side scored twice late on to take the points.
The results mean Blaze sit bottom of the Elite League standings, having taken five points from their opening seven matches.
In Dundee, Blaze took the lead on the powerplay at 14.54 as Roth scored his seventh goal of the season in a tight first period.
And Coventry stretched their lead in the second period as Kristo’s goal at 23.58 and Luciani’s strike at 32.23 put Blaze in command.
Stars reduced the deficit through Brendan Harms on the powerplay at 40.23 before McNulty all but sealed the points for Blaze at 51.39.
Harms struck again for Dundee at 53.53 only for Kristo to complete the scoring with his second of the night, firing into an empty net at 58.35 to secure a much-needed victory.
Blaze head coach Danny Stewart said: “It was important for us tonight. It’s not easy to lose that game at home and then get on the bus and come all the way up here and find a way to get two points.
“I thought we played a smart game in the first two periods and put ourselves in a good position.
“It wasn’t pretty but we found a way with some timely goals and timely shot blocks and Kozy [Taran Kozun] made a couple of key saves in the third period to win it for us.”
That came after Blaze were beaten at home by Dundee the previous night with tributes paid to Nottingham Panthers forward Adam Johnson ahead of the face-off.
Dundee took an early lead as Ryan Valentini struck at 2.20 before Drydn Dow doubled the visitors lead just 31 seconds later.
However, Luciani hit back for Blaze with his first professional goal at 6.45 before Roth levelled the game in the second period at 28.27 on the powerplay.
Stars regained the lead at 36.03 through Josh Brittain only for Tallberg to equalise for Blaze soon after at 37.26.
In a physical final period, Dundee eventually clinched the points as Johnny Walker took advantage of a mishap behind Blaze’s goal to score at 54.40 before Spencer Naas finished into an empty net at 59.40 to complete the scoring.
