COVENTRY Blaze saw their season come to an end in the quarter-finals of the Elite League play-offs following a 3-2 aggregate defeat against Belfast Giants.
Blaze lost 2-1 at the SSE Arena in Belfast before drawing 1-1 on home ice at the Skydome Arena to suffer a narrow defeat over two legs.
And Blaze head coach Danny Stewart felt his side left everything on the ice as Coventry fell short of reaching the final four.
Stewart said: “The series reminded of old school hockey, the battle, the compete, fighting for every inch out there and both teams had to.
“Nobody likes to lose, but at the same time, we left everything out there. It was a series as tight as anything I have ever seen and they got the extra bounce, it’s as simple as that.”
In the second leg, Belfast netminder Jackson Whistle made a couple of early saves before the Giants hit the post at the other end as both teams missed powerplay opportunities in a goalless first period.
However, Giants stretched their aggregate lead at 26.43 when Daniel Tedesco converted from right in front of Blaze goalie Taran Kozun.
At the other end, Whistle made a number of fine saves to keep Blaze at bay before Coventry pulled Kozun for the extra skater with just over a minute still to play.
The home side drew level on the night with one second remaining as Danny Kristo finally beat Whistle as Blaze’s season came to an end following a narrow aggregate defeat.
In the first leg, Blaze were without 20-goal forward Alessio Luciani through illness while Belfast were missing influential defenceman Jeff Baum.
In-form netminder Whistle made the biggest save of the first period when he denied Tyler Kirkup in-close with Kozun also unbeaten in the first period at the other end.
However, Giants took the lead just 19 seconds into the second period as Oliver Cooper finished Greg Printz’s smart pass.
And after Cameron Pound went to the box for tripping, Blaze equalised on the powerplay at 24.58 as Mitch Cook found the net.
Belfast killed a penalty off just 25 seconds later before Blaze’s Nathan Ripley was then assessed an interference penalty at 30.47 to give the Giants a chance to reclaim the lead.
And the home side duly restored their one-goal advantage at 31.28 as the puck bounced off the skate of Ben Lake and past Kozun from Tedesco’s feed.
Blaze killed off another Belfast penalty and kept themselves in the contest to set up a second leg decider where they ultimately fell short.
