COVENTRY BLAZE conceded another late goal at the Skydome on Saturday night against the Belfast Giants, losing the game 1-2.
After defeat to Nottingham on Wednesday night, the Blaze lost in similar fashion when Belfast’s Mitch Ganzak scored as the Giant’s broke following a deflection from a shot in the Blaze offensive zone.
Despite problems with the ice surface, Coventry started the game in fine style as Jordan Pietrus tapped in a bobbling puck from close range to put the Blaze 1-0 up within two minutes.
Ironically, Belfast scored 13 minutes later following a penalty to Pietrus for holding.
A scoreless second period was followed by a scrappy third period – the Blaze not helped by a ten minute personal misconduct penalty to Russ Cowley.
Coventry’s chances of gaining a point went as Ganzak tapped home the game winning goal with just two minutes left on the clock.
The defeat means Coventry have dropped out of the playoff zone following Manchester’s win against Dundee.
Blaze headcoach Chuck Weber described tomorrow’s game against Belfast as a “must win”.
Weber added: “I don’t think we deserved to lose, I think we deserved to take the game to overtime.
“We didn’t capitalise on our opportunities, even at the end of the game we didn’t take our chance.
“We’ve scored just two goals from our last three games and we need to start taking our chances better with the big games coming up.
“It wasn’t pretty hockey from either side, unfortunately the ice was what it was but it was the same for both teams.”
