Coventry Blaze impress as they defeat Dundee

The Coventry Blaze welcomed the Dundee Stars to the Skydome looking to hand the Stars only their second defeat in what has been a surprisingly strong start for the Scottish outfit.

The Blaze were sat in fourth spot compared to their league leading opponents at puck drop, but it was the Blaze that got the upper hand early on, with Ryan Ginand grabbing the go ahead goal just 6:58 into the game.

Coventry then continued to press and were able to add a second goal as Adam Henrich set up his brother Michael Henrich to make it 2 - 0 little over halfway through the first period.

Dundee managed to grab a lifeline through Rory Rawlyk with 16 seconds left in the period, leaving the teams separated by one goal with two periods left.

Both teams came out for the second period looking for the crucial next goal and it was the Stars who tied the game midway through the second thanks to a second goal of the night from Rory Rawlyk to make it a 2 - 2 scoreline.

The tie didn't even last three minutes before Ryan Ginand, who has impressed a lot of people since coming to the UK, grabbed his second of the game to make it 3 - 2 to Coventry with a lot of time remaining.

Much like the first period, the second period ended with a late goal, but this time the Blaze scored it to re-open the two goal lead they had in the first period as Ashley Tait made it 4 - 2.

If Dundee wanted to try and climb their way back into the game they needed to score early, but that plan was gone as Ryan Ginand completed his hat-trick grabbing his league leading 12th goal of the year to make it 5 - 2 less than three minutes into the final period.

The Stars then were giving an even higher mountain to climb as Swedish defenseman Kenny Källström capitalised on a powerplay opportunity making it 6 - 2 with just under 5 minutes to play and it proved to be the final blow as the final score ended with the Blaze up 6 - 2.

The Blaze now look ahead to a meeting with the Sheffield Steelers next Saturday, and with forwards Ryan Ginand and Adam Henrich averaging two points a game they have reason to be optimistic against the Steelers who have shown promise but not lived up to expectations in the early stages of the season with only one league win so far.

Meanwhile the Dundee Stars travel south to face the Hull Stingrays in their next fixture, looking to bounce back from only their second loss of the season.


THREE STARS
1. Coventry Blaze # 51 Sean Erickson
2. Dundee Stars # 8 Rory Rawlyk
3. Coventry Blaze # 9 Brian McMillin


WEEKEND SCORES

Saturday Fixtures
Sheffield Steelers 4 - 2 Cardiff Devils
Edinburgh Capitals 2 - 6 Dundee Stars
Belfast Giants 2 - 3 Nottingham Panthers
Braehead Clan 1 - 2 Fife Flyers

Sunday Fixtures
Cardiff Devils 4 - 3 Sheffield Steelers
Dundee Stars 2 - 6 Coventry Blaze
Braehead Clan 7 - 0 Edinburgh Capitals
Belfast Giants 3 - 2 Hull Stingrays

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