05 Jan 2025, 17:30 | Regular season | SkyDome Arena |
Coventry Blaze | 3-2 SO | Belfast Giants |
Periods: Shots: | 2-2 (13-11) | 0-0 (10-18) | 0-0 (4-5) | 0-0 (3-4) | 1-0 ( - ) | Total: 30-38 |
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Referees: #3 Tom Pering,#48 Oliver Truswell  |  Spectators: 2041 |
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Goals and assists
Coventry Blaze raced into a two-goal lead, were pegged back, and then
won in a shootout to pick up two points against Belfast Giants on
Sunday night. 2,041 fans saw them win at the Skydome.
"We started
off really well, got up by two, and it's never good to blow a lead like
that but we showed great resilience to stick with it," said Mat Robson,
who stopped 30 shots for the Blaze. "That's the mentality of our group,
we never get too high or too low no matter what's going on or if we're
on a streak. We stayed dialled in, it was a good game and I saw the puck
well.
"It's a long hockey season. Every team in every league will
have ups and downs. We hadn't won in four before but we are resilient
and work hard."
It took only 65 seconds for the game's first goal.
Alessio Luciani played a give-and-go with Nick Seitz on a 2-on-1 rush,
with Seitz dragging Whistle to one side for Luciani to slot into the
open cage. It was an excellent start for the hosts who were deservedly
two ahead through Greyson Constable off another Seitz feed at 7:25.
Adam
Keefe called his timeout after seeing his side slip two behind, and
whatever he said had the desired effect - though not before Constable
was denied by Whistle on a breakaway. With 10:56 on the board, JJ
Piccinich showed some excellent quick hands, after the Blaze turned the
puck over in their own end, to make it a one-goal game. Some four
minutes later, Jeff Baum fired through traffic off a faceoff win by Ben
Lake to tie the game. Mark Cooper almost put the visitors ahead
shorthanded before the period was out, but it ended tied at two each.
Period
two saw both teams with powerplay chances in the early stages, but
neither able to convert. Constable saw a shot come back off the pipes at
33:37 following a period of Giants pressure. Period two ended with no
further scoring.
The third was equally as tight as the second, ,
but got more so as the game went on. Belfast had two man-advantages but
came up short, while a Scott Conway minor gave the Blaze a short chance
to find a winner around the mid-point of the period but to no avail.
Overtime
was cagey for the opeing few minutes as teams opted to reset in the
neutral zone rather than risk a pass. Josh Roach had the best chance to
win it but Robson stopped his breakaway attempt when he tried to go
five-hole. The Blaze drew Whistle into a good save in the final 30
seconds but the game was to be decided in a shootout.
"I love
shootouts!" said Robson. "Something my dad drilled into me since I was a
kid is that 'pressure creates diamonds', and you have to live for those
big moments. I get excited when I have the chance to make saves and win
games."
In the final round of the shootout, it fell to captain
Kim Tallberg to fire in the winning shot and get the Blaze the extra
point.
"I wanted to make the last save and end it on a save, but Kim is clutch in the shootout, never in doubt!" he addded.