COVENTRY Blaze moved top of their Challenge Cup group with victories against Guildford Flames and Cardiff Devils respectively.
Blaze claimed a dramatic 2-1 shootout win against Guildford at the Skydome Arena to move top of the group.
That came after Coventry recovered from a three-goal deficit to beat Cardiff 6-5 in a thriller at the Vindico Arena.
Coventry now lead Group A of their Challenge Cup group, two points clear of the Devils.
Blaze and the Flames played out a scoreless first period before Coventry took the lead at 22.58 on the powerplay as Grant Mismash found the net.
However, Guildford equalised at 24.37 as Sean Comrie fired past Blaze netminder Mat Robson to level the game.
Both teams spurned a couple of powerplay opportunities in the third and final period which sent the game into overtime.
Just over one-minute into the extra period, Mismash and Guildford’s Jake Gravelle dropped their gloves as tempers boiled over.
And Blaze forced a shootout late on as Robson and the Blaze defence foiled a four-on-three chance for Guildford at the death.
Coventry’s Jere Vertanen scored the crucial penalty for Blaze before Robson denied Jamal Watson to seal the points.
That came after Blaze played out an 11-goal thriller against Cardiff as Kevin Moore’s side overturned an early three-goal deficit.
The Devils raced into the lead at 5.31 when Ryan Barrow finished Kristoff Kontos’s stretch pass which split the Blaze defence.
And Brett Perlini doubled the home side’s lead at 9.41 as he fired through traffic to beat Robson in the Coventry net.
Cardiff extended their lead at 13.51 on the powerplay courtesy of Brandon Estes’s strike.
Blaze responded just 42 seconds later at 14.33 when Alessio Luciani finished from close range after Mack Stewart shovelled the puck across the face of goal.
And Coventry struck again at 27.14 on the powerplay in the second period as Matthew Gleason scrambled the puck over the line.
That came with the Devils shorthanded after Sam Duggan reacted to a strong hit by Vertanen.
The Devils then saw Jimmy Oligny penalised for roughing and Blaze equalised at 28.39 as Sam Ruffin tied the game.
Cardiff coach Paul Thompson called a timeout in an attempt to settle his side and Barrow broke away to put the Devils back in front at 29.11 with his second goal of the game.
Blaze thought they had equalised later in the second period only for the goal to be overturned following a successful coach’s challenge for goalkeeper interference.
However, Coventry drew level at 34.20 as Jack Hopkins tipped home Ivan Chukarov’s shot.
The visitors took the lead for the first time just 44 seconds into the third period as Colton Saucerman blasted home on the powerplay.
This led to Cardiff changing their goaltender as Christian Stoever replaced Great Britain international Ben Bowns.
And the Devils restored parity at 43.29 when Duggan produced a tight finish from Connor Caponi’s pass.
However, Coventry scored the game’s decisive goal at 55.29 as Mismash scored Blaze’s fourth powerplay goal of the night.
