COVENTRY Blaze saw their winning run halted at eight matches following a dramatic 5-4 overtime defeat against Belfast Giants.
Blaze led by four goals against league leaders Belfast early in the second period at the Skydome Arena.
However, Belfast staged a stunning comeback to take the game to overtime and then took the extra point in the additional period.
That came after Coventry battled to a 2-1 shootout victory against Nottingham Panthers at Motorpoint Arena – the club’s eighth successive victory.
The results mean Blaze sit sixth in the Elite League table.
Red-hot Coventry made a blistering start against Belfast as former Giant Elijiah Barriga found space in front of the net and finished neatly at 3.52 from Matthew Gleason’s feed.
And Gleason turned from provider to scorer at 15.55 when he skated almost the full length of the ice before producing a backhand finish past Jackson Whistle.
Another former Belfast player haunted his old side at 16.41 as Grant Mismash hammered a one-timer past the away side’s substitute netminder Jake Kupsky.
Blaze added a fourth goal early in the second period at 21.51 when Adam Robbins found the net to leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.
However, Belfast responded at 23.18 as Jordan Kawaguchi struck to keep the Giants in the contest.
And the league leaders further reduced the deficit at 30.17 when Mike Lee jumped into the play from the blue line and finished from in tight.
Belfast closed the gap between the teams to a single goal less than a minute later at 31.10 as Jake Gaudet capitalised on a two-on-one rush.
The visitors remained on top in the third period and took the game to overtime at 50.36 when JJ Piccinich scored on the powerplay with a speculative shot through traffic.
And Belfast ended Blaze’s winning run just 26 seconds into the extra period as Scott Conway scored the away side’s fifth unanswered goal.
That came after Coventry claimed a penalty shootout victory against Nottingham to extend their winning run to eight matches.
Nottingham lost Matt Alfaro to the box for cross-checking while Zsombor Garat followed his teammate soon after for high-sticking.
This presented Blaze with a five-on-three powerplay chance as Grant Mismash fired narrowly wide in the best chance of a goalless first period.
However, Blaze broke the deadlock at 23.35 when Grayson Constable finished on the rebound after Mismash’s heavy shot fell kindly into the scorer’s path.
Constable spurned a golden chance to double Blaze’s lead moments later on a breakaway while Jarod Hilderman took a slashing penalty to deny William Boysen a chance on goal.
Nottingham equalised at 30.49 when Brendan Harris converted a six-on-five play from Mitch Fossier’s feed.
Blaze netminder Mat Robson then made a stunning save late in the second period to keep the scores level.
The visitors spurned a three-on-one chance early in the third period while the Panthers failed to capitalise on two late powerplay opportunities.
Neither side could find a winner in regulation time or overtime as the game ended with a penalty shootout.
And Robson saved all five of Nottingham’s efforts while Robbins scored the winner for Blaze in the fifth round of penalties.
Coventry are next in action against Belfast in the Challenge Cup semi-finals on Wednesday, February 11 with the face-off at 7.30pm at the Skydome.
