COVENTRY Blaze secured a pair of much-needed victories in the Challenge Cup against Manchester Storm and Guildford Flames respectively.
Blaze edged out Manchester 4-3 at Planet Ice Altrincham after a penalty shootout before then beating Guildofrd 2-1 at the Skydome Arena.
Against Manchester, Blaze secured their first away win of the campaign and took the lead when Brandon Alderson hammered home Jakob Stridsberg’s pass at 7.28 on the powerplay.
Storm drew level at 14.45 when Craig Martin pounced on a rebound from Jake Durflinger’s initial shot.
However, Blaze reclaimed the lead as Chase Gresock converted Mike Regush’s feed at 18.56 near the end of the first period.
Manchester equalised for a second time at 33.34 when Durflinger finished off a well-worked move from Noah Carroll’s pass to beat Blaze netminder Mat Robson.
And Durflinger completed the turnaround in the third period at 49.16 after collecting the puck behind the Blaze net, he wrapped around and tucked it past Robson.
Just 81 seconds later, Blaze drew level as Jackson Cressey squeezed a shot past Storm goalie Evan Weninger from a tight angle at 50.37.
And Blaze spurned a golden chance to win the game in regulation time only to see a penalty shot saved with less than a minute left to play.
A frantic overtime period ensued, with no stoppages during the extra five minutes, with neither team able to find a winner.
In the shootout, both sides traded goals through the first four rounds before Robson made a stunning save to deny Joe Morrow.
And that save allowed Kim Tallberg win the game for Blaze with a composed finish.
Blaze then beat Guildford on home ice as Nick Seitz scored a late winner to ensure Coventry took a maximum four points from their weekend matches.
After a goalless first period, Blaze broke the deadlock at 25.13 when Grayson Constable converted on the rebound after Gresock’s initial effort was kept out.
Guildford levelled at 31.18 as Jack Jacome capitalised on a two-on-one short-handed opportunity before Flames netminder Jake Kupsky produced a sensational save to keep the scores at one-apiece.
Both goalie’s excelled throughout as Blaze’s Robson made 35 saves. And his saves allowed Seitz to win the game at 58.20 from Alderson’s superb pass after Blaze killed a penalty.
Blaze head coach, Kevin Moore, said: “Guys competed for 60 minutes and were willing to make choices to win puck battles and 50-50’s and that’s something we needed to make an adjustment on from last night.
“Kudos to the guys for finding a different way to win in what was another exciting hockey game.”
Coventry return to Elite League action against Sheffield Steelers on Sunday, October 13 with the face-off at 5.30pm at the Skydome.
