Sport Skipper leads the way to a double delight for Blaze
COVENTRY Blaze completed a four-point weekend with a 5-3 victory over local rivals Milton Keynes Lightning at the Skydome Arena.
As per the the previous night’s victory in Guildford, Marco Vallerand opened the scoring early (3.17) but the away side hit straight back through Kevin King on the next shift (3.34).
Blaze captain Jordan Pietrus registered to give his side the lead again at 9.28 before Vallerand struck again on the powerplay (10.57).
The strike took the Canadian’s regular season tally to 12, equal best in the Elite League.
British defenceman David Clements, whose points total so far (six) is his best ever made it 4-1 (12.58) seemingly putting the game out of the Lightning’s grasp. King though, on the powerplay had other ideas, hitting his second (15.32) to round off an exciting first period of scoring.
Both defences tightened up in the middle twenty, Tommy Mele of Milton Keynes proving to be the only scorer at 35.39.
The Lighting thought they’d tied the game at 44.36, but King was denied his hat-trick by referee Mike Hicks following a video review.
Next came a fight between MK’s Francis Verreault-Paul and Blaze defenceman Dax Lauwers, the two falling before too many punches were thrown.
A late penalty to King gave Blaze a chance to wrap up the game, MK killing before pulling Miika Wiikman for the extra skater.
With the net empty, it was left to Coventry’s man of the match Pietrus to finish the game, shooting from long range to add his second and end the game 5-3.
Following the buzzer, a confrontation involving Pietrus led to Danick Paquette and Matt Nickerson tangling, the two being pulled apart before both teams left the ice without the usual post-game handshakes.
Head coach Danny Stewart said: “We met as a club and set some short-terms goals for November and we’ve got off to a great start.
“I thought we played a fantastic game in Guildford and a good period on Sunday night.
“We found a way to hang on and that’s all that matters.
“Our penalty-kill was tremendous again from Nasti (Kevn Nastiuk) and that was the difference this weekend.”