COVENTRY Blaze suffered back-to-back defeats on the road in a double header against Belfast Giants.
Blaze suffered 5-1 and 5-3 defeats on consecutive nights at the SSE Arena and have now lost each of their last four matches.
The results mean Coventry sit sixth in the Elite League table.
Prior to the first game between the two teams, an emotional tribute took place in memory of former Blaze assistant coach Dayle ‘Keeno’ Keen who died aged 33 last week.
After the first period passed without incident, Blaze took the lead at 23.28 when Mitch Cook scored on the rebound from Blake Thompson’s initial effort.
However, Belfast drew level at 27.03 as Matthew McLeod tapped home Kohei Sato’s superb pass before Daniel Tedesco completed the turnaround at 29.08 with a backhand strike past Taran Kozun.
Blaze head coach Danny Stewart called a time-out following Tedesco’s effort only for two goals in the opening seven minutes of period three to take the game out of Coventry’s reach.
Giants stretched their lead through Blake Speers’ goal at 43.57 before Ben Lake struck at 46.21 and Sato completed the scoring at 54.19.
Blaze put up a better fight the following night although Coventry twice surrendered the lead in the first period in Belfast.
The visitors made the perfect start when Kobe Roth broke the deadlock with his 21st goal of the season at 2.31 from Danny Kristo’s pass.
However, Giants equalised at 7.36 as Will Cullen intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and skated clean through before finishing past Nolan Kent.
In a frantic opening to the game, Blaze reclaimed the lead at 9.43 on the powerplay as Kristo and Roth combined again with the former finding the net.
Belfast levelled the game again at 19.19 as Cullen scored his second goal of the night from David Goodwin’s pass.
And the home side turned the game on its head at 21.34 when Steers fired a shot over Kent following a neat exchange with Ara Nazarian.
However, Blaze restored parity at 25.58 as Ian McNulty tapped home Kristo’s feed into the slot on the powerplay only for Bobby MacIntyre to put Giants back in front at 36.01.
And Belfast sealed the win at 47.40 when Lake scored shorthanded as Blaze pulled netminder Kent for the extra skater to no avail late on.
Coventry are next in action at home to Cardiff Devils on Wednesday, March 6 with the face-off at 7.30pm at the Skydome Arena.
